Shinji the Mighty
by Mike313
Summary: Because being an Eva pilot just wasn't enough, fate causes Shinji to become stuck with an interstellar police officer named Birdy, who's on the trail of equally out of this world criminals. SERIOUSLY stuck. Evangelion/Birdy the Mighty crossover.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Prologue: **Shinji's Bad Day**

"What a day," Shinji groaned to no one in particular, his head hung low and his school bag slung over his shoulder as he slowly treaded home. "What a day…"

The universe had seemed even more intent on ruining him today than usual. It was the first Sunday since he and Asuka had managed to destroy the Seventh Angel, and Shinji had been looking forward to some well deserved rest.

Unfortunately, Misato and the Tokyo-3 public school system had had other plans.

Since he and Asuka had both missed nearly two weeks worth of classes while they had done their synchronization training, their teacher had "generously" offered to come into school and spend the day tutoring the two of them to help them get caught up. Misato had thought this was an excellent idea and had ordered them to go.

Asuka had, in true Asuka fashion, proclaimed that there was no need for her to go and had skipped the tutoring session. She'd probably spent the day at the mall or something.

Shinji's conscience wouldn't quite allow him to follow suit (their teacher was willingly sacrificing his day off, too, after all), and even if it had, he simply didn't have the nerve to play hooky from a private tutoring session, much as he would have liked to. So he'd gone and made some muddled excuse for Asuka's absence to the Sensei.

And then he had entered hell.

While the Sensei had actually covered useful subjects such as math and science for the first hour or so, he'd then quickly lapsed into his favorite activity: rambling on and on about Second Impact and reminiscing aloud about what the world had been like before it.

During school days, the bell could be counted on to eventually stop the man, and Shinji, being just one among several students, could get away with dozing. Neither of those things were true for this private study session, and by the time Shinji was finally released, the sun had set long ago and he was fervently wishing he'd followed Asuka's example and skipped.

"What a day," Shinji said again. The words were quickly becoming a new mantra of his.

Of course, it wasn't over yet. He had missed the bus that would have taken him back to the apartment, which was why he was currently hoofing it toward home.

"Hope Misato and Asuka don't mind that I wasn't there to cook dinner," he muttered to himself. "What a day. Well, at least nothing _else_ could possibly go wrong today."

Had Shinji been a little less wiped out, he might have realized the extent to which he'd just jinxed himself. And had he been a little more observant, he probably would have realized that the brief flares of orange light he was seeing were caused by a series of small explosions that were in the distance behind him.

* * *

The world around her blurred as she ran in search of her target. He had been a wily one, there was no denying that. She had almost had him half a dozen times in the course of her investigation, but each and every time he'd given her the slip.

Now, though, the trail ended here. He was reduced to fleeing from her on foot and occasionally launching his feeble attacks at her. It was pathetic really, but she'd long ago stopped expecting the criminals to just give up when it was clear they'd lost.

She had no idea why he'd come to this backwater—there were better places to hide by far out there—but she didn't care. All she cared about was that soon, Geega would be in her custody.

And Geega could lead her to Christella Revi, the one she really wanted to bust.

Smiling, Birdy Cephon Altera leapt from the sidewalk onto the room of a two story building. She looked around and quickly spotted her prey standing on the street below.

Before she could react, he had sent a blast of energy flying at the building she was perched upon. Birdy immediately leapt to the rooftop of a neighboring structure, landing just as the energy blast struck its target and most of the first building's second floor was consumed by an orange ball of fire.

Birdy looked down at the street again but this time didn't catch sight of Geega. Scowling, she leapt back down to the ground and took off in the direction he'd most likely gone off in, determined not to allow him to slink away this time.

* * *

Shinji was just minding his own business when it happened, really.

In a narrow and fairly isolated walkway that was almost, but not quite, within view of the apartment building where he lived, a man ran into him, very nearly knocking him over.

"I'm sorry," Shinji said once he had regained his balance, even though the guy had been the one that ran into him.

The man stared dumbly at Shinji for a moment, and the Third Child took the opportunity to get a look at him. He was perhaps in his early forties, with olive skin, short black hair, and a wholly unremarkable (if rather unfortunate) face. He was dressed in a business suit and had a coat over that, despite how warm the evening was.

"Please! Help me!" the man exclaimed, abruptly regaining the power of speech. "You must help me!"

"Help you?" Shinji echoed stupidly.

He was about to take a step back, but the man suddenly grabbed his shoulders and drew him in closer than Shinji was comfortable with, forcing the Third Child to look into his obviously panicked face.

"You gotta help me escape!" the man said. "A…a monster! A monster's coming after me!"

_A monster?_ Shinji thought, his eyes widening.

There was, so far as he knew, only one kind of monster that plagued the city of Tokyo-3. And while he hadn't seen any ten story tall beasts running around lately, Dr. Akagi _had_ once said that the monsters NERV had been created to slay were likely to come in all shapes and sizes, and that the only thing they were certain to all have in common was that they would all be incredibly deadly. It was possible a new one had just arrived, and that it was small enough that not everyone within ten kilometers could easily see it.

"Is it an Angel?" he asked, voice barely more than a whisper.

"Uh, yeah! Must be!" the man said, nodding rapidly. "You gotta hide me! It's trying to kill me!"

Shinji sighed slightly. There was little he could hope to do against an Angel without his EVA, yet as a member of NERV, he still felt obligated to try and do _something_ to help this poor guy.

"Follow me," Shinji said, coming to a decision.

He broke into a jog, heading back the way he'd come, and the man followed him, sputtering words of thanks. The Third Child didn't exactly know where he was going; he wasn't very familiar with the city yet, save for the few parts of it that he had to venture to regularly. However, he was fairly confidant that he wouldn't need to find a phenomenal hiding place. He couldn't imagine an Angel pursuing one specific person for very long, unless, of course, that person happened to be an EVA pilot, which this guy wasn't.

Soon, the two of them were crowding into a small, dead end bit of alley that was wedged between a pair of old buildings and settling down to wait for the threat to pass.

Within twenty seconds, it became very obvious to Shinji that his impromptu companion couldn't keep still. The man fidgeted with extreme agitation, kept constantly peeking out of their little hiding place, and started at small noises.

Looking at him, it finally occurred to the Third Child, who'd been about to take out his cell phone so he could call NERV and alert them of the Angel, that perhaps there was no monster at all. Perhaps this guy was just crazy.

_It would figure that I'd run into some random nut, with the way my day's been going,_ Shinji thought sourly, suddenly wondering where his Section Two detail was.

Alas, Shinji hadn't seen hide nor hair of NERV's secret police since he'd gone into the school that morning, and he suspected they hadn't noticed when he'd left the building. It seemed like the sort of thing Section Two—which only ever seemed to be around when Shinji _didn't_ want them to be—would do.

"Hey," Shinji spoke up tentatively, "are you sure that—"

His carefully worded inquiry was cut off as a metal beam suddenly came falling out of the sky toward them. Shinji's eyes widened until they were practically bugging out of his skull. He froze up, his mind instantly flashing back to the last time he'd faced such a threat, back when he had first been brought to NERV.

This time he was saved by his strange companion, rather than by the giant hand of a biomechanical engine of death. The guy grabbed Shinji's arm and dragged him out of the alleyway with him before he took off running.

Knocked out of his momentary paralysis, Shinji quickly fell in step behind the guy as they ran, neither caring where they went so long as it was away from there.

_It has to be an Angel!_ Shinji thought, a new wave of panic rushing through him. _What _else_ could possibly do that?!_

The man abruptly stopped after perhaps a minute of sprinting, catching sight of something that Shinji couldn't see in the darkness. The Third Child saw this and he halted as well, panting.

Then something Shinji never could have seen coming happened.

Yellow eyes that were at least the size of a man's fist opened on either side of the guy's neck, which seemed to lengthen and expand until it was almost as long as the rest of him. A great jaw full of deadly, spike like teeth opened just below the yellow eyes.

Shinji backed away fearfully as the creature's neck bulged grotesquely, like that of a frog, some kind of light illuminating it from within.

The creature opened its mouth, and with a great gasping sound, it fired a blast of blue light outward into the darkness, causing Shinji to release a strangled sounding yelp of fear.

The energy blast struck a parked car, instantly creating an explosion and setting the vehicle aflame. Shinji squinted as the harsh orange light flooded his eyes, which had been adjusted to the darkness, but he was now able to make out the silhouette of a…woman?

"Give it up, Geega," the mystery woman said. "It's over."

Shinji turned back to look at the man (apparently Geega), who was indeed a man again, the bizarre transformation he'd undergone having reversed itself in the few seconds the Third Child wasn't looking at him.

Quick as lightning, Geega's arms shot out, one hand clamping down hard on Shinji's mouth, and the other grabbing him around the waist. Shinji struggled frantically, but he couldn't break of this thing's hold, nor could he utter a single sound.

Geega leapt from the ground to a second story window ledge on a nearby building with one jump, carrying a terrified Shinji with him.

"Birdy!" Geega shouted, causing the woman to turn sharply in his direction.

Then he released Shinji and have give him a savage push, sending the Third Child falling toward the woman.

Shinji flailed his arms and legs uselessly about in the air as he fell. The Third Child tried to scream, but an icy hand had clamped down on his lungs, stilling his voice.

Then the woman reached out, just as he was about to fall onto her, and her hands came into contact with his chest. Jagged blue tongues of electricity arced off her hands and then flooded his body, and now he _did_ scream, agonized shrieks bursting forth from him as he fried.

Birdy abruptly realized that this wasn't Geega and stopped her assault, but it was too late. Shinji's eyes had rolled back into his head until only the whites were visible. The boy gave the occasional spasm but otherwise did not move.

He also wasn't breathing.

"Birdy!" Geega called, and she looked back up at him, hate burning in her blue eyes as she quickly worked out what exactly had just happened.

"Geega," she hissed.

"It looks like you killed a human, Birdy!" Geega taunted. "We'll meet again!"

Geega rushed off, and Birdy was sorely tempted to pursue as she watched him leave, and her best chance at getting to Revi with him. However, she turned back to look at the poor boy she was holding and all thoughts of continuing the chase tonight vanished.

* * *

When Shinji started coming around, the first thing he realized was that his entire body was submerged in liquid. For a moment, he thought that he might be inside of EVA or a test plug, that perhaps he'd fallen asleep after a test or was waking up after being knocked unconscious in battle.

He soon realized that this wasn't the case, however, because he couldn't smell blood. There was no way he was in LCL and not smelling blood.

_Where am I, then?_ He wondered dimly. _Is this a dream?_

The question actually seemed rather unimportant now that he really thought about it. Wherever he was, it was comfortable. It was soothingly dark, and the mystery liquid he was submerged in was quite warm. He felt at peace with himself, for once.

_Maybe I'll never wake up,_ Shinji mused, a rare smile spreading across his face, and he was completely oblivious to how macabre his wistful thought really was.

Then, voices impinged upon his moment of quiet serenity.

"It was unavoidable!" a female voice exclaimed. "When Geega—"

"I'm not interested in excuses," another voice answered, firm but level. This new voice was obviously masculine and quite deep. "You have made a grievous error, Birdy. Now, you must atone for it."

"No way!" Birdy protested. "I don't want to be stuck with this puny human!"

_Puny human?_ Shinji thought, his smile morphing into a smirk. _Must be talking about me._

"Hurry!" the male voice said. "Your window of opportunity will soon close! Go!"

"I'm really not sure about this," Birdy said, though her tone was one of resignation rather than protest.

A great light appeared above Shinji, and he soon saw a small, dark shape against it. It grew steadily larger as it came closer, and Shinji placid expression shifted into one of shock as he realized it was the girl he'd seen earlier, the one who'd been pursuing Geega.

He opened his mouth to release a cry as she reached out for him, and—

* * *

"Wake up, baka!"

Shinji sat bolt upright in bed, going from a dead sleep to complete wakefulness in less than a second. He was panting hard, covered in sweat, and his heart was pounding. Someone was banging rather insistently on his door.

Ignoring this for a moment, he stared at his hands at a second, quietly reeling.

"Was it all a dream?" he whispered to himself, brief flickers of the previous night flashing through his mind.

"Baka!" Asuka shouted through the door. "Get your lazy butt up and cook breakfast, or Misato might decide to do it!"

Shinji turned slightly green at _this_ prospect. "I'm coming!" he called, and the pounding on his door stopped.

He quickly slid out of bed and started getting ready to face the day. Surely, it couldn't be any worse than the previous one.

However, before he left his room, the Third Child took a moment to inspect himself. There were no burn marks on his chest, nor were there any other injuries on any other part of his body.

He shook his head. "It must have all been some kind of crazy dream," he muttered to himself as he left his room, headed for the kitchen.

Shinji wouldn't discover just how wrong he was until later.

* * *

Author's Notes: Here, ladies and gentlemen, we have the start of my latest fic, a crossover between Eva and Birdy the Mighty. The latter is a pretty obscure show, with all of five fics of its own here on FFN, but it fits _so_ perfectly in with Eva for a crossover that when orionpax09 was kind enough to toss the idea my way and I watched it, I had to agree to write this fic.

For those of you who have never seen Birdy the Mighty before (and I assume you're in the majority), fear not. Next chapter will explain the crazy situation that Shinji's fallen into this time, and I'll be doing my best to make this fic accessible to readers who are unfamiliar with Birdy.

Anyway, thanks as always to my readers and reviewers. Also, sorry, but no omakes today. I just couldn't think of anything, except a lame South Park reference ("Oh my god! She killed Shinji!").


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter One: **Revelations**

"Well, it took you long enough to get moving," Asuka commented as Shinji finally emerged from his bedroom.

For a moment, Shinji considered snapping back that she was the one who most often needed to be roused in the mornings, and it was hardly a crime if he slept in every now and then. However, he found himself with too much good judgment and not enough nerve to make such a comment, as always.

"I'm sorry," he said instead. "I'll go cook breakfast."

Asuka responded with a satisfied nod and then walked off, presumably heading for the bathroom to take a shower. Shinji allowed himself a quick, guilty look at her legs, which were mostly left exposed by the oversized T-shirt she'd worn to bed, before he headed for the kitchen.

"Good morning, Shinji-kun," Misato greeted him cheerfully from her place at the kitchen table. "My, you're up later than usual."

"I, uh, must have been tired from having to study all day yesterday," Shinji replied, still feeling somewhat out of it.

"Hmm, Asuka woke up bright and early, and she needs much less excuse than you do to sleep in," Misato said as Shinji set the frying pan on the stove and broke a few eggs into it.

The Third Child's eyebrows went up at this statements and its implications, and he focused his gaze on the eggs, glad for the excuse not to look at Misato. Asuka, it seemed, had somehow managed to make their guardian believe she'd attended the tutoring session yesterday. How she was able to do this, he had no idea, since Misato was nowhere near dense enough to believe Asuka had gone if she'd returned to the apartment earlier than he had.

Then again, for all he knew, Asuka _had_ somehow managed to return at the same time as he had.

Shinji frowned and tried to grasp at the memories he seemed to be missing. What he got were a series of seemingly random scraps.

An explosion and a wave of heat coming from it.

The wind whipping about him as he flew through the air, trapped in someone's iron grip.

Darkness and tranquility.

A completely nude girl descending toward him while he was immersed in some kind of liquid?

The Third Child shook his head slightly, dispelling the memories. They felt so hazy and dream-like that he wasn't at all sure that any of them had actually happened.

"Well, I guess it's true what they say," Misato mused aloud, fully pulling him from his thoughts. "Women really do have more stamina than men."

Shinji frowned in confusion, not immediately taking in the implications of that particular statement.

Then it hit him.

"M-Misato!" he sputtered, flushing crimson. "Nothing like _that_ happened!"

"I know," Misato giggled. "I was just teasing you."

Shinji sighed in a long suffering sort of way. "I wish you wouldn't."

* * *

Thanks to his relatively late start, Shinji didn't have time for any breakfast aside from a piece of toast that he grabbed on his way out of the apartment. Despite this rather inauspicious beginning, however, the day proceeded normally, and was thus better than the previous one by leaps and bounds.

Indeed, fate was apparently being kind to him to make up for yesterday, because not only did he have no tests at NERV that afternoon, but he also got the apartment to himself after school. Misato had paperwork to catch up on and had gone to NERV, and Asuka had gone to the mall with Hikari.

"And Shinji gets to enjoy a little peace and quiet," the Third Child said with a rare sigh of contentment as he lowered himself onto the couch.

"Wark!"

Shinji looked down to see the apartment's resident water fowl sitting next to him. The Third Child put his SDAT on, then began to pet Pen-Pen on the head with one hand and pressed the button to start his tape playing with the other. He lay back and closed his eyes, the very picture of relaxation.

**Hey!**

"Ahh!" Shinji exclaimed in shock, jumping almost a foot in the air.

"Wark!" Pen-Pen squawked indignantly.

"Who said that?!" Shinji demanded, looking around wildly but seeing no sign of the woman he'd just heard speaking.

**You're an excitable one, aren't you?** The woman asked in a voice that Shinji found strangely familiar, then sighed. **Why do I have to be stuck with such a jumpy little human?**

"Where are you?" Shinji snapped, jumping to his feet and whirling about as he scanned the apartment.

Watching all of this, and hearing only Shinji's side of the conversation, Pen-Pen sweat dropped and then slowly backed away from the Third Child before making a break for the sanctuary of his fridge. Shinji didn't even notice him leave.

**Geeze, you really are dense, aren't you?** The woman asked, sounding exasperated. **I'm **_**inside**_** you!**

This caused Shinji to stop short in his frantic searching. "In-inside of me?" he stuttered. "How is that possible?"

**It's a long story,** the woman replied, suddenly sounding rather apologetic. **Let's go. Everything will be explained to you when we get there.**

Suddenly, Shinji's legs began to move, carrying him toward the door without any command from his brain whatsoever. The Third Child cried out, understandably finding this sensation incredibly unsettling, and struggled futilely to retake control of his body.

"Stop this!" Shinji yelled, waving his arms about, if only because he still seemed to have control of them. "You can't do this to me!"

**Sorry, but this is the best way of making the situation clear to you, trust me.**

"Trust you? Why should I trust _you_?!" Shinji demanded.

**Well, you don't have much of a choice, for one,** the woman replied dryly. **Second, because seeing is believing, and I don't think you'll be able to swallow this otherwise.**

"I can swallow a lot right now!" Shinji continued to protest, flailing about and trying fruitlessly to grab onto something to stop his feet from taking him out of the apartment.

**Not this.**

"You can't do this to me!" Shinji yelled, even as he was forced out the door against his will.

Soon afterwards, he found himself leaving the apartment building and stepping out onto the sidewalk. Shinji very reluctantly ceased his struggling against the woman who was apparently controlling his body. Section Two watched the apartment building whenever he or Asuka was home, he knew. However, the Section Two agents usually didn't pay enough attention to realize when he left unless he or Misato called them and told them as much beforehand.

Of course, if he made enough of a spectacle of himself by struggling, then not even Section Two could fail to notice him. And if there was one thing Shinji had learned since coming to Tokyo-3, it was that Section Two never _improved_ a situation.

Ever.

**Good,** the woman said as he started to assist in the task of getting himself to wherever it was she wanted him to go. **This will all go more easily if you just go along with it.**

Infuriated, Shinji nearly snapped that this _wasn't_ the reason he'd stopped fighting at all. Instead, he just let out a sigh as his anger rapidly morphed into resignation. There was no way of preventing this from happening that he could see.

"This had better be worth it," he grumbled.

**Oh, it is,** she assured him.

A few minutes of jogging brought him to the seedier, more run down part of the city, where Rei lived. Fortunately, his wayward feet didn't bring him to the First Child's apartment building, but instead to a junkyard filled with old cars that were good for nothing but scrap metal. Shinji walked up to a particularly high stack of junked automobiles, and his feet finally stopped moving.

**Climb into the red one.**

Shinji shrugged and began gingerly picking his way up the pile, heading for the sole red car in it. The presence in his mind seemed somehow surprised that he was following the strange request without questioning it.

Obviously, she either couldn't scan his memories or had opted not to do so, Shinji thought. Otherwise, she would have realized that being asked to get into an old car that was laying in a scrap heap wouldn't have thrown him for a loop.

Once you're told to climb into the giant purple robot you've never seen before and have no idea how to operate, it's kind of hard to phase you with weird commands alone, he had learned.

"Okay," Shinji said as sat down in the front passenger seat. "Now what?"

His head turned to the right, almost as if invisible hands had gripped it and forced it to do so, and Shinji's eyes widened at what he saw. Instead of another car door and the remains of another used up automobile, he found himself looking at a very strange, circular door that was embedded into some kind of white metal…thing.

Suddenly, the door opened with a hiss of hydraulics, and Shinji felt himself being pulled forward. He let out a cry and tried to resist, but it was useless. The Third Child was rapidly sucked into the entry chute and fell onto the floor below in an undignified heap a few seconds later.

"Ugh," Shinji groaned as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. "What the…?"

He trailed off as he looked around the large, dim chamber. It was a mostly empty room, with only a few pieces of furniture and equipment scattered around. Near one wall was some kind of command console and a chair, and in a corner was of glass pod, the use of which Shinji couldn't even guess at.

Shinji hadn't watched very many sci-fi shows in his day, but he couldn't help but think of those he had seen as he took in the room.

Then there was a humming sound and a flash of light. Shinji quickly jerked his head in the direction of a large alcove in the wall, where both were coming from.

He let out a cry of fright as a man-size figure that looked like a purple cockroach wearing black robes materialized within it. The Third Child quickly scooted backwards until his back was pressed against the wall.

"Oh god!" Shinji exclaimed, some dim part of his mind thinking that of all the possible ways he might have died, being eaten by a giant bug was probably the one he'd expected the least.

Then, to his amazement, the giant insect spoke.

"Greetings, Shinji Ikari," the bug said in a deep voice that Shinji found was oddly familiar. "I apologize for frightening you. It was not my intent."

"Oh, th-that's okay," Shinji said weakly, more out of reflex than anything else.

The giant insect inclined its head slightly in what might have been a tiny bow before it continued. "My name is Inspector Megius of the Space Federation, and I am transmitting this hologram from many light years away, in order that I may explain matters to you personally. Now, young Shinji Ikari, you must listen carefully to me."

Shinji just nodded dumbly.

"Last night, one of my subordinates dealt you a fatal injury while pursuing a dangerous criminal," Megius explained. "Behold."

Lights within the glass pod suddenly switched on, illuminating its interior. Shinji slowly stood and approached it warily. "No…" he breathed as he looked upon its contents. "No, it's impossible…"

Lying within the pod was…him. Or at least, someone that looked so much like him that even he couldn't tell the difference. This Shinji had been stripped to his boxers, and there were great, gruesome looking burns on his thin chest. His skin had taken on a gray, extremely unhealthy looking pallor.

"I realize this is not something that is easy to forgive. So, in order to preserve your life, your mind and soul were transferred into the body of the Federation officer responsible for the injuries you sustained," Megius explained.

A two dimensional window popped up before the hologram of Megius, showing the woman that Shinji had had such an unfortunate encounter with the other night, causing more flashes of memory to come rushing to the fore of his mind. She was tall, with a lithe, attractive figure that was nicely displayed by the blue and white leotard she wore, which somehow managed to be both backless and low cut without falling off of her.

Superior alien technology, Shinji supposed.

The young woman also wore knee high boots, one blue and one white, as well as gloves which went all the way to her shoulders, also one blue and one white. Her most striking feature was her long hair. The half on the right side was pink, while the half on the left side was a pure white.

In different circumstances, Shinji might have secretly thought this young woman was cute.

"This is Birdy Cephon Altera, an Ichis-class Altarian humanoid," Megius said. "Her species shares a great number of physiological similarities with your own, and we have altered her molecular structure so that she may transform into a perfect duplicate of your own body. Your day to day life will not change."

Shinji stared silently down at his hands. _Perfect duplicate is right,_ he thought. _I never even would have suspected if she had kept quiet._

"When Birdy is able to leave planet Earth, you will return to the Space Federation, and we will attempt to restore your body to health, so that you may occupy it once more," Megius said. "In the meantime, it will remain in stasis. We can only hope that you will cooperate with our investigation. Farewell, Shinji Ikari, and please, take care of Birdy."

"Take care of Birdy?" Shinji echoed softly, as the hologram faded and was gone.

Abruptly, a small laser that was attached to the ceiling fired, striking Shinji's hand harmlessly. A second later, a bracelet with a triangular device attached to it materialized on his wrist where the laser had hit.

"What's this?" Shinji asked.

**It's a modulator, to keep your clothes from being torn when we change,** Birdy answered.

"Change?" Shinji asked.

As if in answer, his hand began to shift, the fingers becoming longer, more graceful, and covered by a white glove. The transformation swept over his arm and then across the rest of his body. Shinji felt the strangest sensation of being _pushed_ back into the recesses of his own mind, and a second later, Birdy rose to her feet, all visible signs of Shinji Ikari having disappeared.

"I will capture Christella Revi on this planet," Birdy said solemnly. "Please, I'm going to need your cooperation."

The Federation officer than fell silent, waiting for a response from her new "partner." She fervently hoped he would agree to help her, but at the same time, she braced herself for the very possible storm of fury.

What she got instead was dead silence.

"Shinji?" Birdy asked after a few seconds.

**…**

"Shinji?" Birdy said again, then groaned, "you didn't faint, did you?"

**…**

Birdy growled, then raised her hand and sent it rushing toward her own cheek for an open palmed slap. However, she relinquished control of their shared body a second before her hand connected, causing it to change back into Shinji's likeness.

The result was that the Third Child smacked himself in the face.

"Ow!" Shinji exclaimed, rubbing his now stinging cheek.

**Sorry,** Birdy said, not exactly sounding contrite. **But you were kind of out of it there.**

"That's, uh, okay," Shinji said, and moved his hand to rub his eyes, a pained look not caused by the slap Birdy had made him give himself appeared on his face.

The Third Child paused for a moment, trying to collect his whirling thoughts, then sighed. "All right, let me see if I have all this straight," he said eventually. "You're an alien."

**Yup.**

"And you accidentally killed me last night," he said.

**Well, since you're not dead, I didn't really **_**kill**_** you**, Birdy pointed out defensively. **But, basically, yeah.**

"And to keep me from actually dying, you somehow transferred me into your body," Shinji.

**Yeah.**

"And now we can sort of switch back and forth," Shinji said. "We can be you or me at any time."

**Bingo,** Birdy confirmed. **You're a pretty bright kid.**

There was at least a hint of sarcasm there, but Shinji automatically thanked her for the compliment and continued. "So now _you_ want _me_ to go along with you, when you go chasing after the alien bad guy you were pursuing when you accidentally killed me."

**Well, alien bad guy**_**s**_** to be precise,** Birdy corrected. **There's more than one on this planet, and the one who pulled you into this isn't really the one I'm after. Geega's actually pretty small time. I just wanted to catch him because he can lead me to Revi.**

"Okay, but I pretty much have it, right?" Shinji asked.

**Yeah,** Birdy said. **So, will you cooperate with me as I do my investigation?**

Shinji's answer was a snicker.

**Shinji? **Birdy asked, clearly taken aback by this.

The Third Child didn't reply. Instead, he snickered again, and again. Soon his snickers had become chuckles, which morphed into giggles, and then full fledged laughter that echoed within the confines of Birdy's space ship. Tears began to pour down Shinji's face, and his legs soon buckled. He felt no pain as he landed on the metal floor, and began to roll around and beat his fists on the floor as his already loud guffaws increased in volume.

_Oh god, he's snapped!_ Birdy thought, wondering how she could hope to complete her mission if she had to share a body with a crazy person. _Should I slap him again?_

The Third Child might have kept laughing until he really did lose his mind, but it was the echo that snapped him out of it. It allowed him to hear how truly insane his cackling was starting to sound, and he realized that he had to stop. Shinji somehow began to get himself under control.

**Shinji?** Birdy spoke up again, once his gales of laughter had ebbed to a few infrequent chortles.

"Only to me. Only, only to me," Shinji commented to no one in particular, and one more giggle escaped him before he finally addressed his new companion."Listen, Birdy, I don't want to burden you, but I don't think you understand my situation. I can't just go with you to fight…space criminals whenever you want. People watch me all the time, or at least, they're supposed to. And if they find out what's happened to me, well, I don't think it'll be good for either of us. I'll be lucky if I don't have to make up some excuse to explain my absence from the apartment later."

**People watch you?** Birdy asked, obviously incredulous.

Shinji nodded. "Yes. Look, why don't you get us out of here? I need to show _you_ something to make _my_ situation clear to you."

The Third Child couldn't quite keep a hint of maliciousness out of his voice as he finished that statement, and Birdy couldn't help but feel a tiny prick of apprehension as she agreed.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Gomez, I can't identify him!" Geega exclaimed, exasperated.

The alien was back in his human disguise, and seated at a table in a rather small room. Spread out in front of him were pictures of all the male middle and high school students in the city.

Standing on the other side of the table was a tall man with blond hair and a thin, dark mustache. He was an extremely large man who always seemed to be wearing sunglasses, which only served to enhance his already formidable presence.

"Try, Geega," Gomez said flatly. "Revi-sama is due to arrive in Japan soon. I want to have the Federation officer neutralized by then."

"I don't see how it could help even if I _could_ identify the brat," Geega said petulantly. "He's dead! I saw the Fed kill him."

"There have been no reports of a mysteriously murdered teenager in the local media," Gomez said levelly. "Nor of any disappearances. Therefore, we can only conclude she saved him somehow, and if that is the case, it's possible he could lead us to her."

"I can't identify him!" Geega repeated. "These damn humans all look the same to me! I can barely tell the males from the females! If not for the uniform the kid was wearing, I wouldn't even be able to tell he was a student!"

"Geega," Gomez said, not the slightest hint of emotion in his voice, "I don't have to remind you that you are the one responsible for the Federation officer tracking us to this planet."

Geega stiffened.

"Personally, in light of the previous services you've provided, I'm inclined to overlook your recent string of misfortunes," Gomez continued. "However, I'm not the one who makes those decisions. Revi-sama is, and she tends to be less merciful than I am."

Gomez headed for the door and placed his hand on the knob. "I suggest you do your very best to identify the boy before she gets here."

With that, the big man departed, leaving Geega alone with his ominous statements hanging in air. Geega sighed and turned back to the series of photographs, though he held no real hope that he'd be able to accomplish anything by it.

* * *

Shinji and Birdy both kept silent as the train descended into the ground, speeding into the Geofront. The Third Child was brooding over this new, unbelievable situation he'd found himself in on top of being a pilot. Birdy was just waiting with unusual patience borne out of a reluctance to further stress her new partner. She wasn't at all sure that he wouldn't go completely crazy with more provocation; for that matter, she wasn't entirely certain he hadn't gone completely crazy already.

Then the train emerged from the dark tunnel into the main cavern of the Geofront. Shinji, out of habit, turned to look out at the skyscraper-like weapons blocks which hung down from the ceiling, since there was no battle occurring at present.

**Woah!** Birdy exclaimed. **Your people built **_**this?**_

The Third Child looked around the car before making a reply. Fortunately, it wasn't time for the base's day shift to leave or for its night shift to come in, so he had the whole car to himself.

"Yeah," Shinji said. "I mean, I guess so. Who else could have built it?"

**You'd be surprised,** Birdy commented cryptically. **Still, I'm impressed. I wouldn't expect to see anything quite like this on such a primitive world.**

Shinji chuckled weakly, realizing he should probably take some kind of offense at this slight against his entire planet but not quite having the will for it.

"Hey, do I have to speak aloud to you?" Shinji asked. "Can't we communicate telepathically or something?"

**Not without our minds fusing into one,** Birdy replied. **You'll just have to learn to speak softly.**

"Oh," was Shinji's only response.

The Third Child found himself actually relieved by this knowledge. Sure, it would be a pain to have to always speak aloud whenever he wanted to tell Birdy something, and he'd have to be careful, lest people see him talking to the air and think he'd gone completely bonkers. However, if he couldn't even speak silently with Birdy, then there was no way she could read his mind, the possibility of which had been worrying him.

A few minutes later, the train had taken them to the great pyramidal building that lay roughly in the center of the Geofront floor, and Shinji was swiping his card through the reader that would open the doors.

**What is this place?** Birdy asked as he walked inside.

"The special agency NERV," Shinji answered softly.

He hoped that if anyone caught him muttering to himself in this manner, they'd just assume he was being deep in introspection.

Then again, he had no idea whether he regularly came off as the deep, brooding type or as a pathetic kid who might or might not have a few screws loose, so he counted himself lucky that no one was around to hear him.

The Third Child made his way to the EVA cages, with Birdy remaining silent. At least, until he actually arrived at his destination.

**What the hell are **_**those**_** things?!** She exclaimed in shock.

Shinji couldn't keep a small smirk off his face, but the gravity of his current, bizarre situation soon caused it to melt away. He looked around, seeing no one nearby.

"They're called Evangelions," Shinji said. "NERV built them to fight these monsters called Angels that are attacking us. I pilot the one that's in the middle."

**B-but why do they have **_**you**_** piloting one of those things!?** Birdy demanded. **You're a kid!**

"Only kids can pilot EVA," he answered. "And only a few kids at that. I don't know why. That's just the way it is."

**That's insane!**

"Maybe," Shinji said, "but it's our only means of survival."

Birdy was silent at this information for a long moment, apparently digesting this information.

**I guess things are going to be more complicated than I expected,** she said.

"Yeah," Shinji agreed, not bothering to point out that this was about the biggest understatement of the century.

**You know,** Birdy said after a few moments of silence, **there's something kind of…familiar about those things.**

Shinji frowned. "Familiar? Have you seen Evangelions on another world or something?" he asked.

**No,** Birdy said. **I'm sure I'd remember it if I ever encountered something like one of those things. But still, I feel like I've seen or heard of something similar. I just can't remember.**

"Well, if anything comes to you, please let me know," Shinji said. "I wouldn't mind knowing more about what EVA really is, that's for sure."

**Sure thing,** Birdy agreed.

"So, now do you understand why I have people watching me all the time?" he asked, getting back to addressing the reason he'd come here.

**Yes,** Birdy said, then seemed at a loss for further words.

His task completed, the Third Child headed to an elevator that would take him back to where he could board another train and return to the city. He found Lieutenant Aoba already inside the car when he entered.

"Hello, Shinji. I didn't think you had any tests today," Aoba commented with mild surprise.

"Oh, I didn't. I…left something here and came back to get it," Shinji lied, rather lamely.

"Oh," Aoba replied with a shrug.

Silence reigned in the elevator for the next several seconds, broken only by the repetitive clicking of the counter.

**So,** Birdy spoke up abruptly, **how did you get stuck with the **_**purple**_** robot?**

"What?!" Shinji snapped, offended at the slight against his EVA despite himself.

"I didn't say anything, Shinji," Aoba said, clearly confused. "Are you feeling all right?"

Mercifully, the elevator reached the floor Shinji wanted just then, and the doors opening with a _ping_.

"Must've been my imagination," Shinji said quickly "See you later, Aoba-san."

With that, the Third Child made a hasty retreat, practically sprinting out of the elevator, down the hall, around a corner, and out of sight.

Aoba sighed as the elevator doors slid closed again. "Is it too much to ask for _one_ of the pilots to be normal?" he mumbled to himself.

* * *

**Stop being such an idiot and get in already!** Birdy snapped.

Shinji just blushed in response.

After leaving NERV headquarters and returning the apartment, the evening had gone about as smoothly as Shinji could have hoped for. Birdy had kept quiet most of the time, offering only the occasional comment. Neither Misato nor Asuka had noticed anything unusual about him, or at least, if they had, they hadn't said anything.

Which was good, because if they had, Shinji might have immediately informed them that he was most certainly _not_ currently sharing a body with an alien from outer space.

So, dinner had gone well, but now Shinji was facing a new situation, namely bath time.

"Um, can you close your eyes?" Shinji asked as he stared down at the full tub, still fully dressed.

**My eyes are your eyes,** Birdy responded. **If yours are open, then so are mine.**

"Oh," Shinji said, hesitating as he wondered if he could effectively bathe while blind.

**Look, we're going to be together for a while, so you have to get used to this,** Birdy said reasonably.

Shinji still couldn't quite bring himself to move.

**If you don't get undressed and get in, **_**I'm**_** going to switch with you and do it. I wouldn't mind a bath,** Birdy said, running out of patience, a commodity the Federation officer had never had in abundance anyway.

The very thought of watching as Birdy bathed caused Shinji to break out into a fresh blush, and the Third Child reluctantly began to disrobe, soon sliding into the tub.

"Ahh…" he breathed as the warm water enveloped him and began to relax him.

The bath apparently had a similar soothing effect on Birdy, because when she spoke again, there was no trace of her previous annoyance in her voice.

**So, it seems like you've got it pretty tough, huh?**

A small, rueful smile appeared on Shinji's face. As embarrassing as having a girl inside his head while he washed was, he had to admit that it was nice to have someone to talk to; it kept his mind from drifting to things he'd rather not think about.

"Yeah, I guess so," he answered.

**Shinji,** Birdy said, after a brief moment of silence, **I understand that you've got your own responsibilities, but I can't just abandon my search for Christella Revi. Besides, we can't leave this world to see about getting your body repaired until the situation here resolves itself, one way or another, and capturing her it the best way of making that happen. Also, if she's allowed to run around unchecked, it could have terrible consequences for this city, or maybe even the entire planet.**

Shinji sighed. Between his duties at NERV, school, and fighting the never ending battle to keep the apartment presentable, he led a very busy life. However, it wasn't like he was occupied every second of every day. If he needed to sacrifice what little free time he was able to come by in order to get his real body back, then there was nothing to be done for it, unfortunately.

"I understand," Shinji said. "We can…work something out, I guess. Section Two is pretty bad at keeping track of me, so unless we do something stupid, I don't think they'll ever discover us. But you can't just body snatch me whenever you feel like it." He added firmly.

**Okay,** Birdy agreed. **And…thanks.**

Shinji smiled. "Welcome," he said, allowing himself to slide a little further into the bathtub until his nose was just above the water.

He wanted to relax while he could, because he had a strong suspicion that things were only going to get more insane in the future.

Poor Shinji. He didn't know the half of it.

* * *

Author's Notes: This chapter was mainly "housekeeping" to get everybody, including Shinji, up to speed on what exactly has befallen the hapless Third Child now. The fun will, hopefully, begin in earnest next chapter.

I realize that Shinji's response to discovering his new situation might have come off as a bit OOC, but really, I think that if something like this happens to a person, _on top of_ the kind of crap Shinji already has to deal with, they're going to become hysterical no matter who they are. This isn't the kind of thing that would push Shinji into a blind rage, and it's way too early in the timeline for it to cause him to break down crying, so hysterical laughter seemed the best way to go. Keep in mind, it's the kind of laughter you do because you _have _to or you'll totally lose it.

Fans of the Birdy the Mighty OVA will note that the second fight with Geega did not occur on schedule. This is because that encounter allowed Gomez to discover what had happened to Birdy. I want to keep Shinji's identity and fate a secret from Revi and her underlings for a good while yet. Besides, much as I liked Birdy the Mighty, it bugged me how the bad guys had this knowledge almost from the get go, then used it to try and get at Birdy through Tsutomu a grand total of once, and near the end at that. I intend to resolve this and a couple of other issues here.

Paladin13, I'm hoping to write this fic in such a way that readers don't necessarily need to have seen Birdy the Mighty. I can't say it would hurt, though. I have no plans to bring any other anime into this, since weaving two together looks like it's going to be enough of a challenge by itself.

Ominae, I've seen a few episodes of Decode, and so far I have to say that I prefer the OVA. OVA Birdy generally seemed nicer than Decode Birdy, who didn't seem to care much about the ways she was disrupting Tsutomu's life and kept telling him to suck it up and be a man at the beginning. Really, I think the last thing Shinji needs is one more person telling him that. I do plan on sprinkling in bits of the Decode series here and there, though.

As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers. Now for some fun!

* * *

Omakes!

Unfair

"Shinji?" Birdy asked after a few seconds.

**…**

"Shinji?" Birdy said again, then groaned, "you didn't faint, did you?"

**…**

Birdy growled, then raised her in and sent it rushing toward her own cheek for an open palmed slap. However, she relinquished control of their shared body a second before her hand connected, causing it to change back into Shinji's likeness.

The result was that the Third Child smacked himself in the face.

"Ow!" Shinji exclaimed, rubbing his now stinging cheek.

**Hey, that was pretty fun!** Birdy commented. **I think I'll do it again!**

Shinji's hand abruptly smacked him in the face again, seemingly of its own accord.

_Smack!_

"Hey! Stop that!" he demanded.

**But it's such great stress relief!** Birdy chuckled, forcing him to hit himself twice more.

_Smack! Smack!_

"Ouch! Damn it, God, what did I ever do to deserve this?!" Shinji cried.

There was a rather pregnant pause.

"Oh, killing your Angels," Shinji said. "Right…"

_Smack!_

* * *

Patterns

"Um, can you close your eyes?" Shinji asked as he stared down at the full tub, still fully dressed.

**My eyes are your eyes,** Birdy responded. **If yours are open, then so are mine.**

"Oh," Shinji said, hesitating as he wondered if he could effectively bathe while blind.

**Look, we're going to be together for a while, so you have to get used to this,** Birdy said reasonably.

Shinji still couldn't quite bring himself to move.

**If you don't get undressed and get in, **_**I'm**_** going to switch with you and do it. I wouldn't mind a bath,** Birdy said, running out of patience, a commodity the Federation officer had never had in abundance anyway.

"Woah, really? That would be awesome!" Shinji exclaimed. "Now, make sure to take extra care when washing your brea—"

_Smack!_

Shinji rubbed at the red, seemingly self-inflicted hand-shaped mark on his face. "I am beginning to see a pattern emerging here," he said, giving a rather meaningful look in the direction of the fourth wall and the author he knew dwelled behind it. "I don't like it."

* * *

True Self

**It's a modulator, to keep your clothes from being torn when we change,** Birdy answered.

"Change?" Shinji asked.

As if in answer, his hand began to shift, the fingers becoming longer, more graceful, and covered by a white glove. The transformation swept over his arm and then across the rest of his body. Shinji felt the strangest sensation of being _pushed_ back into the recesses of his own mind, and a second later, Birdy rose to her feet, all visible signs of Shinji Ikari having disappeared.

"I will capture Christella Revi on this planet," Birdy said solemnly. "Please, I'm going to need your cooperation."

The Federation officer then fell silent, waiting for a response from her new "partner."

**Oh god,** Shinji breathed.

"I know it's a lot to take in," Birdy said. "But—"

**This is wonderful!** Shinji exclaimed.

"What?" Birdy asked, incredulous.

**This is, like, the way I always thought I looked on the inside, you know?** Shinji gushed. **And now I look that way on the outside, too!**

Birdy face faulted. "I don't think I like this development…"


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Two: **First Brawl**

For most people, there are two things in life which are absolutely certain: death and taxes. For an Evangelion pilot, there were three things: death, taxes, and sync tests.

So for Shinji Ikari, sync tests had long ago become routine, but he was extremely nervous all the same. This was, after all, going to be his first time taking one while he had another person inside his head.

"What are you so jittery about, Third Child?" Asuka asked as the pilots made their way to the test plugs.

"I'm not jittery, Asuka," Shinji replied, perhaps a little too defensively.

Asuka frowned. The Second Child was always on the lookout for ways to prove that the 'Invincible Shinji' wasn't half the pilot everyone seemed to believe he was. However, even in her perpetual eagerness, she still couldn't credit the idea that he was seriously sweating a sync test, so she dropped the subject.

The three EVA pilots entered the test plugs, which then quickly filled with LCL. After the Children had each taken their first, unpleasant breaths of the stuff, the professional (and nearly clinical) voice of Dr. Akagi filled the test plugs.

"Synchronization test is scheduled for two hours," she said. "Commencing…now."

**W-Wait a minute!** Birdy spoke up suddenly. **They **_**actually**_** stuff you into this thing for two hours at a time just so you can think really hard at it?**

Shinji nodded very slightly, keenly aware of how they were being recorded and closely monitored.

Birdy groaned. **I thought you were just making that up when you told me about these tests!**

Shinji gave a very tiny shake of his head.

**Mind if I sleep through this?** Birdy asked.

_I'd prefer it, actually,_ Shinji thought, shaking his head again.

In seconds, Shinji was aware of a certain…lack of something within his mind. It was almost a type of aloneness but not quite. He wasn't sure if he could accurately put the sensation into words, but if pressed he'd have described it as a sudden silence.

_Wow, she can just go right out,_ he thought, the corners of his mouth quirking upwards.

* * *

"Something wrong, Maya?" Ritsuko asked, noticing that her protégé was studying the readouts with a frown on her face.

"I don't think so," Maya said uncertainly. "I was just getting some strange readings from the Third Child, but they suddenly stopped. Everything looks normal now."

"Hmm," Ritsuko hummed thoughtfully as she leaned over Maya's shoulder to see for herself.

Misato leaned over Maya's other shoulder, despite having no idea how to interpret the particular set of data she had in front of her. "Do you think something could be wrong?"

Ritsuko resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _She takes in the commander's kicked puppy of a son, and suddenly she's a mother hen,_ she thought.

"I doubt it, Misato," Ritsuko said comfortingly. "It's probably nothing. Just disregard it, Maya."

"Yes, sempai."

The sync test then proceeded without further incident.

* * *

"Good job, Shinji-kun," Misato said as she drove both her charges home after the sync tests had been finished. "You too, Asuka."

Asuka just 'hmphed' in response. She was still annoyed because Shinji had gained four points since the last test, while she had only gained slightly more than one. Shinji chuckled nervously and looked out the car window.

The Third Child immediately frowned at what he saw. Nearly half a dozen thin trails of black smoke were rising up from various points on the cityscape, and even as he watched there was a flash of orange in the distance and another plume of smoke began to rise.

**Hey, are you thinking what I'm thinking, Shinji?** Birdy asked.

Shinji nodded. "Geega," he whispered. "But why?"

"Did you say something, Third Child?" Asuka asked.

"No, Asuka," Shinji lied, thankfully managing to sound casual as he did so, for once.

**I don't know why, but I don't care,** Birdy said resolutely. **I can't pass up an opportunity like this. You have to get away from Misato and Asuka as soon as possible so we can go after them!**

Shinji blinked. He had no idea how he could get away at the moment. It was getting late, and both Misato and Asuka would be expecting him to start working on dinner as soon as they reached the apartment.

"I can't," he argued, so softly even he could barely hear himself.

**What do you mean you can't!?** Birdy shouted so loudly that Shinji stiffened and stopped himself _just_ before he jumped a foot in fright. **Make up some excuse or something! I've held up my end of our deal, now you hold up yours!**

Shinji didn't recall ever making any formal bargain with Birdy, but he supposed that he _had_ promised his cooperation, more or less. "Okay."

"_What_ are you whispering about, baka?" Asuka demanded.

"Nothing, Asuka," Shinji said quickly. "I was just, uh, thinking about what I was going to cook tonight."

Asuka gave him a look that clearly said she didn't believe him but didn't press the issue further.

Moments later, Misato skidded to a stop in her usual parking space by the apartment, with her usual level of insane speed when behind the wheel. Shinji, however, was so used to this by now that it barely phased him.

At least, that's what he told himself, but the white-knuckled grip he maintained on his seat until the car came to a full and complete stop said different.

**Okay, now make something up and let's go,** Birdy urged as they all got out of the car.

"Not yet," Shinji whispered.

**Well hurry it up!** Birdy growled in her impatience. **The longer we delay, the more time Geega has to escape!**

Shinji nodded as he and his two female companions headed up to their shared apartment. Almost the moment they were inside, the Third Child made a very cursory inspection of the contents of their refrigerator, then released a disappointed sigh.

"I'm missing some of the ingredients I need for the dinner I have planned for tonight," he announced, working off his earlier lie. "I'm going to run down to the store and get them."

"Okay, Shinji-kun," Misato said. "Don't take too long."

He nodded and beat a hasty retreat from the apartment. The moment the apartment building's elevator began to take him toward the ground floor, his body rapidly transformed as Birdy came to the fore.

"You couldn't have used that excuse earlier?" she asked the moment the transformation had finished. "They'd believe you if you claimed to have the contents of the fridge memorized, you know."

Shinji chuckled weakly despite himself. **I hadn't thought it up until we got up to the apartment,** he admitted.

"You need to work on thinking on your feet," Birdy commented.

**Don't worry. I think I'm going to be getting a lot of practice in the future,** Shinji said dryly.

Birdy 'hmphed.'

The elevator pinged and the doors slid open, revealing a pair of teenage boys who had apparently come to pay their friend a visit.

"Hi, guys," Birdy greeted cheerfully, then dashed off into the falling darkness of evening, leaving Toji and Kensuke gaping after the attractive, scantily clad young woman.

**I'm going to hear some version of this story tomorrow,** Shinji predicted with a sigh.

"Just be glad that I didn't bother to tell them that you weren't in," Birdy replied.

Before Shinji could reply, Birdy leapt into the air, soaring high above the tops of the nearby structures and then landing on the roof of a three story building. Shinji screamed in fright.

"Geeze, chill out!" Birdy said as she jumped to another, higher rooftop.

**S-Sorry,** Shinji stammered. **I just wasn't expecting it. It's kind of like being on a rollercoaster.**

"Well, I hope you enjoy rollercoasters," Birdy said, as she continued to leap from building to building, drawing nearer to the scattered fires. "I don't need you screaming inside my head when I'm trying to fight."

Shinji tried to nod, then realized that he couldn't. **Okay, I'll try and keep quiet.**

Birdy soon arrived at the sight of one of the fires, but there was no longer any sign of Geega. All that was there was a burning car.

"Plenty more places to check," Birdy said, leaping into the air again.

Fifteen minutes later, Birdy had seen several more burning cars, a gas station that was rapidly going up in flames, and a small building that was likewise ablaze.

"But no Geega," Birdy sighed, after she'd checked all the fires. "I wonder if this was even him at all."

**If it was, then I don't think he's done yet,** Shinji said softly.

"Why do you say th—?"

Birdy was cut off mid word by a deep _boom_ and another flash of orange light. A trail of smoke soon marked the location of the latest explosion, and the Federation officer was off.

And this time she hit pay dirt. Standing only a few yards away from yet another burning car was Geega, in his alien form, apparently just surveying his handiwork.

"Hey there, Geega," Birdy greeted from her spot on a nearby roof. "You should have stayed hidden."

"We'll see about that, Birdy," Geega growled in response.

The alien's neck bulged, and it expelled one of its energy blasts straight at Birdy. The Federation officer dodged easily and jumped to the ground as a chunk was blown out of a tall tower behind her. Geega had already resumed his human disguise and had taken off running into the night by the time Birdy's feet touched the pavement. The Federation officer immediately began to run after him.

**Be careful, Birdy,** Shinji warned.

"Don't worry, Shinji," Birdy said. "We'll be fine. I can take Geega easy."

**But doesn't this whole thing seem suspicious to you?** Shinji asked. **It doesn't seem like Geega was trying to **_**do**_** anything besides cause enough havoc to get your attention. Which means…**

Birdy's eyes widened in realization, and she jumped straight up into the air.

Just in time to avoid the thin beam of blood red light that lanced out at the place where she'd been less than a second ago. The attack crashed into a building, which erupted into an incredible explosion, far beyond anything Geega had managed to do so far. Birdy raised her arms over her head as chunks of broken concrete and twisted metal flew in all directions, but the Altarian was fortunate and managed to dodge all the debris as she landed back on the sidewalk.

"Proton canon," Birdy muttered to herself. "Geega must _really_ want me dead."

**That shot came from over by that alleyway!** Shinji said, trying and failing to point.

Birdy quickly found her new attackers anyway; the light from the explosion had quite eliminated the darkness they'd been hiding in. It was a pair of men, both dressed in identical trench coats, fedoras, wide scarves, and dark sunglasses. One of them had what looked like an oversized bazooka resting on his shoulder.

They were, altogether, very overdressed for the perpetual summer of post-Second Impact Japan.

**Who are they?** Shinji asked.

" 'What are they' is the better question," Birdy growled.

The Federation officer sprinted forward toward the two men. The one wielding the proton canon immediately brought his weapon to bear, and the thing immediately began to emit an ominous whirring sound as it charged up.

Shinji gulped.

With a wordless battle cry, Birdy grabbed the barrel of weapon and pointed it straight up just as the man pulled the trigger. The beam of red light flew harmlessly into the sky, and Birdy wrenched the proton canon from his grip.

The Federation officer then employed a more low tech means of using the weapon. Still gripping the barrel, Birdy brought the proton canon down on the shooter's head like a club, shattering the weapon in the process.

The man staggered backwards a couple of steps, but otherwise he barely seemed phased by the attack. Shinji gasped, sure that the same assault would have utterly shattered his skull had he been the target.

As one, the two mean abruptly tore off their trench coats, along with what Shinji had _thought_ was skin, revealing gray, metallic bodies and faces that were covered by some kind of dark, translucent material like plastic. A single, red eye burned in each of the metal men's faces.

**They're robots,** Shinji gasped.

"Arcezoids," Birdy hissed.

With lightning speed, one of the Arcezoids threw a punch at Birdy. Even faster, the Altarian grabbed hold of the other robot and pulled it in front of her to act as a shield. There was a squeal of twisting metal and a shower of sparks as the attacking Arcezoid's fist punched a hole into the torso of its companion. Birdy released her grip on the hapless robot she held, allowing it to fall lifelessly to the pavement.

"Pathetic," Birdy sneered, cracking her knuckles loudly as she prepared to destroy the second Arcezoid.

That was when a ball of blue light crashed into the ground between them and exploded, sending a spray of broken concrete into the air both combatants flying. Birdy let out a groan of pain as she bounced off the sidewalk and spat out a mouthful of rubble.

"Ugh," she grunted, looking around for the source of the attack. She soon caught sight of Geega standing atop a nearby roof and growled.

**Birdy, look out!** Shinji shouted.

She turned to see that the remaining Arcezoid had grabbed a garbage dumpster that had been in the alley and had raised it high above its head. The robot wordlessly hurled the dumpster forward, sending it straight at Birdy.

**Get out of the way!** Shinji shouted.

Birdy ignored her partner. Instead of dodging, the Altarian jumped about a foot into the air and spun about, lashing out with her leg. She released an angry roar as her booted foot slammed into the flying dumpster, leaving an incredibly deep dent and sending it sailing back the way it had come.

The Arcezoid tried to dodge the missile, but in the confines of the alley, not even the robotic fighting machine could quite pull it off. The dumpster rammed into it with the force of a freight train, continuing its flight until it crashed into the back wall of the alley, crushing the Arcezoid between it and a brick wall like a soda can.

"Geega!" Birdy shouted, already jumping into the air in pursuit of her real quarry, who had realized a bit too late that his gambit was doomed to failure.

The Federation officer landed on the rooftop that Geega was just vacating, and immediately took off after him, chasing the interstellar criminal from rooftop to rooftop.

Geega abruptly twisted about as he leapt through the air again, firing another energy blast at Birdy. The Altarian dodged easily, and the attack struck the top floor of another hapless building.

Shinji fervently hoped that the city government would never discover that he was sharing a body with Birdy and charge him for any of this property damage.

With a cry of rage, Birdy launched herself into the air after Geega. The alien never had a chance to try and attack again before the Federation officer's fist slammed crashed into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and damn near causing several of his internal organs to rupture.

His mouth opened in a silent scream of agony, Geega collapsed back down to the rooftop, clutching his stomach and looking very defeated and pathetic, his great yellow eyes bugging out almost comically.

"Finally got you, Geega," Birdy said, landing right before him. "By the way, I'm insulted that you only grabbed two Arcezoids and a pea shooter for this trap."

Geega didn't even try and make a reply.

Birdy scowled darkly and grabbed him by his collar, roughly pulling him to his feet. "Now tell me where Christella Revi is," she demanded.

Geega chuckled mirthlessly. "Why should I tell _you_?"

"You'll feel less guilty if you do," Birdy replied without missing a beat.

Geega laughed again. "Forget it."

"In that case, I guess I'll just have to send you on your way," Birdy said, sighing with mock disappointment.

She hadn't believed for a moment that Geega would just spill his guts to her, but it never hurt to ask.

Birdy reached into her hair and pulled out a flat, triangular object about twice the size of a guitar pick. She pointed it at Geega and pressed a button on it. Instantly, an inky black sphere surrounded the defeated criminal. After a second or two, it flew off into the night, taking Geega with it.

"And off he goes," Birdy said.

**Where did you send him?** Shinji asked.

"To the Federation. They'll interrogate him there and hopefully get something out of him to help my investigation," Birdy replied. "Well, that's that, I guess. We can head home now."

**Thank goodness,** Shinji said with a sigh as Birdy began to jump across the rooftops toward home. **That was insane.**

"Even more insane than piloting that EVA thing of yours?" Birdy asked.

**No, I guess not, but at least when I'm doing that, I'm not just stuck watching,** Shinji replied.

"Hey, don't forget that when you have to fight the Angels, I'm going to be stuck in the passenger's seat just like you were tonight," Birdy reminded him.

**Good point,** Shinji said.

"Anyway, thanks for the heads up back there," Birdy said. "You did pretty good tonight. Way better than I'd expected."

**Uh, thanks, I think,** Shinji replied.

* * *

About ten minutes later found Shinji shuffling back into the apartment, feeling exhausted.

"I'm home," he said quietly as he slipped off his shoes.

"It's about time!"

Shinji jumped and turned to see Asuka sitting at the kitchen table, looking cross.

"Did you get whatever food you were looking for, Third?" the redhead asked.

Shinji blinked, giving his house mate a completely blank look. "Food?"

Asuka groaned and rolled her eyes. "Mein Gott!"

* * *

For the next few days, things were actually fairly quiet in Shinji's life. No Angels appeared, nor had any space criminals made themselves visible. The Third Child knew that this relative peace was not to last, of course, he was only in the eye of the storm as it were. However, he intended to enjoy the tranquility—

"What do you mean I can't go on the trip!?" Asuka screeched.

Never mind.

**What trip?** Birdy asked.

"Okinawa," Shinji whispered, so softly he could barely hear himself.

**Why haven't I heard about it, riding around in your head?** Birdy asked.

Shinji couldn't think of any way to answer the Federation officer at the moment without drawing the attention of Asuka and Misato to himself, so he kept silent and watched the argument unfold.

"That's right," Misato told Asuka, perfectly calm in the face of the Second Child's rage.

"Why not?" Asuka demanded.

"It's part of your job," Misato replied curtly.

"You mean I'm on permanent standby?" Asuka snapped indignantly.

"Yup," Misato replied, taking a calm drink from her beer can.

"What _idiot_ decided that?" Asuka demanded, obviously nearing critical mass.

"This one," Misato answered, her eyes narrowing slightly and a slightly predatory glint appearing in them. "The Operations Planning Manager."

**Well, she walked right into that one,** Birdy said with a snicker.

Though the glare never left her face, Asuka hesitated, not quite sure whether she wanted to keep pushing Misato when the Ops Director had _that_ look on her face.

In the end, she decided to take a less hazardous course of action and try to rally her only potential ally to her cause.

"Shinji!" Asuka snapped. "Why don't you stop hiding behind that cup of tea and talk some sense into this woman! Be a man!"

The Third Child started slightly as Asuka turned her burning blue glare upon him. Inside his head, Birdy chuckled softly, though he wasn't exactly sure why.

"Well," Shinji said, putting down his mug, "really, I didn't expect that we'd be allowed to go."

"So, you've already given up?" Asuka asked.

Shinji shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Pathetic," Asuka sighed. "You're so housebroken that it's painful to watch."

**What a tactless girl,** Birdy commented.

Shinji frowned. "I'm right here, you know."

Misato cleared her throat loudly, butting her way back into the conversation. "Listen, I know you can't be pleased about this, but try thinking of it as a chance to get ahead for a change," she said, then pulled out a pair of zip drives. "Or did you think I didn't know about these report cards?"

Asuka flinched.

"The school sent these directly to my terminal, and I am _very_ disappointed with the both of you," Misato said.

**You know, it would be easier to take this lecture seriously if she'd put down the beer can while she gave it,** Birdy said, sounding amused.

"Shut up," Shinji mumbled.

Misato turned to look at the Third Child, blinking in disbelief. Surely, she thought, she must have just heard wrong. This was _Shinji_, after all.

"What was that, Shinji-kun?" Misato asked.

"Huh? Oh! Nothing! Nothing!" Shinji said quickly, already bordering on panic.

Misato gave him a strange look, then let it go. This was Shinji, after all.

"Anyway," she continued, "while I think you both deserve a little rest and should probably check out the pool at the NERV rec center, I expect you to catch up on your schoolwork as well. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Shinji and Asuka replied.

"Good," Misato said, cheerfully triumphant.

Shinji quickly mumbled an excuse to leave the scene and retreated back to his room, sliding the screen shut behind him.

"You know, I can do without the running commentary on my life, Birdy," he said, annoyed. "You almost got me into trouble for no reason."

**Sorry,** Birdy replied. **But I'm bored. There isn't exactly a whole lot to do in here, and in case you haven't noticed, we've had no time to pursue my investigation since catching Geega.**

Shinji sighed. That much, he had to admit, was true. Tests at NERV had consumed nearly all his free time recently, which meant that Birdy got no time to search for Revi or any more of her agents.

Akagi had grown concerned over the anomalous readings that she got from the first few minutes of his recent sync tests. Since a few minutes was how long it took the Federation to conk out from pure boredom whenever he took a sync test, Shinji was fairly sure she was responsible.

Fortunately, the blond scientist was being confounded at every turn, and since the strange readings weren't accompanied by any change in Shinji's performance, Akagi was already thinking about abandoning her little investigation.

"Sorry," Shinji said, laying down on his futon. "I guess I never thought about how dull it is for you."

A rather uncomfortable silence descended, and Shinji held back a sigh. Even when he was 'alone' he still had these awkward moments now, and he hated it. It made him feel like he could never fully be at ease and relax anymore.

"I can't believe Asuka didn't realize we wouldn't get to go," Shinji blurted out.

**I can, **Birdy replied.

Shinji frowned slightly. "And why is that?"

**Because, she tends to only think about the good things EVA does for her. The doors it opens, the way she can turn it into instant popularity at school, the power and prestige it brings her,** Birdy answered. **You, on the other hand, only think about the bad things EVA causes. The pain, the possibility of death, the way NERV never gives damn about how they're screwing with your schedule and your life. Neither one of you has a very good way of looking at it, if you ask me.**

Shinji blinked in surprise and said nothing; his experiences with Birdy so far had left him quite unprepared for this insightfulness.

**So,** Birdy spoke up again before he could formulate a reply, **since it looks like you're actually going to get a little time off, then I guess I can finally go out on patrol.**

Shinji frowned. "I do have to catch up on my homework and stuff, you know."

**Oh, geeze! You share a body with an alien, you pilot a giant robot against giant monsters, and you're worried about **_**homework?!**_ Birdy exclaimed.

"Sorry," Shinji said.

Birdy sighed. **No, it's okay. Look, I'll help you with your homework before I go on patrol.**

"I'm not sure that—"

**Shinji…** Birdy growled.

"Okay, okay, fine," Shinji quickly relented.

Looking to stop the conversation, Shinji put his SDAT's ear buds in and lay down on his futon. He pushed the button to start the tape, and the familiar sounds of Pachebel's Canon filled his ears.

**You know, you really need to get a hobby, Shinji,** Birdy said. **And some better music.**

Shinji took a deep breath, suppressing his annoyance only with considerable force of will. "What did I say about the running commentary on my life?" he asked.

**Yeah, yeah…**

* * *

The office was large, richly furnished and well lit, despite having no windows. It might have been the workspace of a very successful businessman, but the man who currently called the place his was far, far more sinister.

He was ordinary looking enough. A tall, slender man with sharp, handsome features and slicked back, black hair, nothing about Dr. Hikawa's appearance looked off, but appearances could, after all, be deceiving.

A knock came at the doctor's door. "Enter," Hikawa called.

The door opened and Gomez stepped inside, looking as big and stoic as ever, Hikawa noted with a trace of wry amusement. "Ah, to what do I owe the pleasure?" the scientist asked sardonically.

If Gomez picked up on any of the subtle nuances in Hikawa's tone, he didn't show it. "I want to know how you're proceeding," he said, "so I can make my usual report to Revi-sama."

Hikawa's eyebrows went up a fraction of an inch. He strongly suspected that Gomez was asking for his own sake, rather than that of his employer. Revi's top strong man had never quite trusted him.

Rather than respond immediately, Hikawa turned away from him and grabbed what looked like a bottle of wine. The scientist uncorked it and then poured some of the contents out into a fine crystal goblet.

The liquid was clear, but flecks of light shimmered and swirled about inside of it, like stardust caught in water. Hikawa drank it all in one gulp, then released a contented sigh.

"My experiments are proceeding well," he answered at last. "I should be able to move to the next phase as soon as the next shipment of chemicals comes in. After that, it shouldn't be too long before the final product is ready."

"I'm sure Revi-sama will be pleased to hear that," Gomez said.

The man did not leave, however, making it clear that he wasn't done. "And?" Hikawa pressed after a few moments of silence.

"Doctor, this is just my own advice, but I believe you should show more discretion when disposing of your test subjects," Gomez said. "The local authorities have been finding their remains, and they've been getting curious."

Hikawa smirked. "I have no need to worry about the likes of the police."

"Perhaps not," was Gomez's curt reply.

"If I were you, Gomez, I'd be more worried about that Federation officer who escaped Geega's pitiful trap," Hikawa commented. "I hope that wasn't your idea, as I doubt that Miss Revi will be pleased with you about that development."

"Geega acted entirely of his accord, seeking to redeem himself before Revi-sama arrived in Japan, I suspect. In any case, doctor, I'm far more concerned with how much of that you're drinking," Gomez said, indicating the bottle of the strange concoction Hikawa had just had a glass of.

Gomez then left without another word. Hikawa just smirked and released his hold on the empty crystal goblet he still held. Amazingly, it didn't go crashing to the floor, but remained suspended in midair by some invisible force.

Then Hikawa's eyes narrowed, and a cold chuckle escaped him. A long crack appeared on the goblet, running all the way from the rim of the glass, down the stem and to the base. Then the goblet shattered completely, and the shards fell to the floor as gravity at last reasserted itself.

* * *

The NERV pool facility was a peaceful place during business hours, since virtually no one could actually use them at that time. It had visitors today, but even so, the only sounds besides the water lapping against the sides of the pool came from Rei Ayanami's occasional dives and the rapid clicking of Shinji Ikari's laptop as his fingers danced across the keyboard.

"Geeze, you're fast," Shinji whispered as he watched his homework being completed at warp speed.

**Thanks,** Birdy said. **This stuff is actually pretty basic compared to some of the courses I had to take back at—**

"Hey, Shinji!"

The Third Child looked up at the person who'd shattered the relative silence of the pool area and did a double take. Asuka Langley Soryu stood before him, clad in a skimpy red and white bikini that was probably a size too small for her developing body. Shinji felt his face heat as he looked at her.

But his fingers never ceased their frantic typing.

"H-Hello, Asuka," he managed to get out.

"Whatcha got there, Shinji?" Asuka asked.

"Physics homework," Shinji replied, the thought of his schoolwork somewhat pushing back the rather base thoughts that had pervaded his mind.

"Really?" Asuka drawled, leaning over to take a look at the screen, and bringing her feminine assets rather close to Shinji's face in the process.

Shinji released a rather strangled sound, but to Asuka's confusion, he continued to work on his homework, not even slowing down.

_He's speechless but he can still work out mathematical equations in his head at high speed? And why are his grades so bad if he's this smart?_ Asuka wondered as she looked at the laptop's monitor.

Suddenly, his typing halted. Shinji took a quick look at his screen and realized that the homework assignment was finished.

"Well, it looks like I'm done," Shinji said, closing his laptop and getting up from his chair, careful not to touch Asuka as he did so. "I have to go now, Asuka. I have an appointment I have to keep. Ja ne."

He said all of this much too fast and was barely able to keep himself from _sprinting_ out of the pool area, leaving a very confused Second Child behind him.

"The hell?" Asuka muttered to herself once he was gone.

"Ikari has been acting differently lately," Rei commented.

Asuka started, having almost forgotten that the First Child was in the pool. "Acting differently?" she repeated. "He's been losing his Gott damn mind!"

* * *

**Wow, you were really cool and collected back there, Shinji!** Birdy chuckled as the Third Child walked briskly through the halls of NERV, clutching his laptop.

"Shut up," Shinji grumbled. "I told you I don't need the running commentary. Oh, and you could have stopped typing while she was talking to me. I'm sure that looked really weird."

**Weirder than the way you're apparently talking to yourself right now?** Birdy asked. **It won't exactly be good if anyone sees you right now, you know.**

Shinji just fumed silently as he walked down the hall.

**Look, I'm sorry,** Birdy said in a somewhat more serious tone. **It's just that I thought it was cute the way she was flirting with you, and—**

"She wasn't _flirting_ with me," Shinji said, rolling his eyes at the preposterous notion. "She was…I don't know what she was doing, but it wasn't flirting."

**If you say so,** Birdy said, the teasing lilt returning to her voice.

"Do you want to go out on patrol today or not?" Shinji asked. "If so, I suggest you drop it."

**Okay, okay. Sheesh, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today, Shinji?** Birdy asked.

"Sorry, I'm just…tired," Shinji sighed, his anger draining away.

Before Birdy could reply, Shinji's cell phone went off. Shifting his laptop so he could hold it with one hand, the Third Child reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

He knew the moment he saw the caller ID screen that Birdy wouldn't get to patrol the city today.

* * *

Author's Notes: And so we have the first real battle of this fic. Geega and a couple of Arcezoids aren't much of a challenge for Birdy, but there are bigger, badder villains waiting in the wings, of that you can be sure.

Originally I had planned for both the battles against Geega and the Eighth Angel to be in this chapter, but then it kept getting longer, and it seemed to make more sense to just stop.

Wandering Soul, I haven't quite decided the issue of pairings yet, and in any case, it'll be a good while before any of that seriously comes up.

As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omakes

Making the Most of it

"Something wrong, Maya?" Ritsuko asked, noticing that her protégé was studying the readouts with a frown on her face.

"It's Shinji's brain waves, sempai," Maya said. "All of a sudden, they seem to have…shifted."

"Shifted?" Misato asked worriedly. "Shifted how? Is Shinji's health in danger?"

"I'm not sure, ma'am," Maya answered. "Shinji's brain waves seem to have shifted into a pattern more consistent with a woman."

Unfortunately for Shinji, the techs had forgotten to turn off the microphones in the control room, resulting in all three Children hearing this conversation.

Asuka's laughter rang out across the testing chambers. "Ha! I knew the baka was no man! Nice to have scientific proof, though!"

Blushing furiously, Shinji hunched down in his seat, wishing he could just disappear. _Damn it, Birdy,_ he thought. _Well, might as well make the most of this._

"So, does this mean that I'm allowed in the girls' locker room now?" he asked.

_Smack!_

Everyone blinked in confusion as they realized that Shinji had apparently slapped himself for his perverted comment.

"Damn it…" the Third Child grumbled.

* * *

Underestimated

The elevator pinged and the doors slid open, revealing a pair of teenage boys who had apparently come to pay their friend a visit.

"Hi, guys," Birdy greeted cheerfully. "Don't bother going up to see Shinji right now. I tired him out just now, so I doubt he'll want to see anyone at the moment."

She then dashed off into the falling darkness of evening, leaving Toji and Kensuke gaping after the attractive, scantily clad young woman.

**I'm going to hear some version of this story tomorrow,** Shinji predicted with a sigh.

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Birdy said dismissively.

_The next day…_

"I'm going to be hearing about your little stunt all day today," Shinji grumbled as he walked to school.

**Oh, please, you worry too much,** Birdy said. **They'll grill you about whether or not you slept with me for a few minutes and then it'll be over.**

"All hail the great Ikari-sama!"

**On the other hand…**

Dreading what he was going to see, Shinji reluctantly turned, his gaze falling upon Toji and Kensuke…both of whom were wearing strange purple and green robes.

"Oh kami…you've started a cult," Shinji groaned.

"Yes!" Kensuke proclaimed proudly. "The cult of Ikari! And we are its high priests!"

"Please, Ikari-sama, share your mighty wisdom with us, so that we may be able to do things with Misato," Toji pleaded.

Shinji glared at them, and immediately the pair blanched.

"We have angered the great one!" Kensuke yelled. "Flee, before he smites us with his laser eyes!"

The two ran away as fast as possible, leaving an incredulous Shinji.

**Wow, they're…suggestible.** Birdy commented.

"Laser eyes?" Shinji muttered disbelievingly.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Three: **Dives and** **Patrols**

**You know, when I let you be bonded with me, I never imagined that you'd have a job more dangerous than mine,** Birdy commented as Shinji gazed down into the boiling cauldron of molten rock within Mount Asuma.

There was a distinct note of trepidation in the usually fearless Federation officer's voice, though Shinji really couldn't blame her. Just the idea of plunging down into that inferno filled him with dread.

"Unit One's just here as backup," he muttered, trying to sound like he was just reassuring himself.

**Let's just hope Asuka doesn't screw up, then, or…**

Birdy forced Shinji's head to tilt upwards, causing his gaze to fall upon the circling group of bombers. Bombers that Shinji knew his father had ordered to drop N2 depth charges into the volcano if the operation failed to capture or kill the embryonic Angel that lurked in the lava.

_Had to remind me, didn't you?_ He thought with a sigh.

Outside, machinery that NERV had commandeered from the research station that was here went into motion, maneuvering a high powered laser over the mouth of the volcano. The laser released a single pulse down into the lava, boring a "tunnel" for Unit Two.

The laser was moved away, and Unit Two took its place, clad in the bulky D-type armor.

**Still looks like a giant marshmallow,** Birdy commented.

Shinji just rolled his eyes and said nothing, just glad that Birdy wasn't succumbing to another laughing fit like back in the hanger when the Second Child had emerged in her inflated, heat resistant plug suit.

"Are you ready, Asuka?" Misato asked over the NERV general channel.

"I was born ready," Asuka replied, and Shinji could _hear_ the eager grin on her face.

"Begin lowering Unit Two," Misato commanded.

Shinji watched as the other EVA slowly descended toward the lava, still not quite able to believe that NERV thought this was a good idea.

"Hey, Shinji! Look!" Asuka called up. "Giant stroke entry!"

Unit Two spread its legs, one forwards and one backwards, as it hit the lava , probably the most graceful thing that Asuka could make her EVA don in the clumsy exosuit.

Shinji sighed slightly. "She's completely insane," he muttered.

**You're just now realizing that?** Birdy asked.

Shinji just shook his head and stared down into the lava. In seconds, Unit Two had vanished beneath the surface of the molten rock, and only the cables that kept it from plunging downward until the pressure crushed it were visible.

**And now we wait,** Birdy said.

"And now we wait," Shinji agreed.

* * *

Down in the mobile command vehicle, the atmosphere was tense. Unlike the pilots, most of the people crammed into the van full of high priced, cutting edge electronics knew only too well what the worst case scenario was, namely a repeat of Second Impact.

History showed that disturbing sleeping Angels was _not_ the wisest of moves, but NERV had no choice. The opportunity to capture a live Angel was simply too good to pass up.

"The EVA has reached the target's estimated depth," Makoto reported after several torturous minutes. "No sign of the Angel. We're already at the maximum safe depth for the D-type equipment."

"Continue descent," Misato ordered curtly, "and recalculate the Angel's projected location. Now!"

"Yes, ma'am," Makoto said, quickly getting to work.

If possible, time began to crawl by even more sluggishly. They were offically pushing it now, and it put them all especially on edge. Makoto began to rapidly tap his foot against the floor. Lieutenant Sakura Yashima, who had taken Maya's usual place for this operation, began to chew on her lower lip. Aoba just stared unblinkingly at his terminal.

"Maximum allotted depth plus 50," Sakura counted off. "Maximum allotted depth plus 100. Ma'am! A crack's formed on the outer layer of the armor! Progressive knife has been lost!"

"Keep going," Misato ordered firmly.

Makoto finally could take it no longer. "Ma'am, I must object! Have you forgotten that there's a human being in there?"

"That's enough, Lieutenant," Misato said sharply. "Continue descent."

"I agree with Misato!" Asuka spoke up over the radio before Makoto could gather the courage to protest further. "I'm okay! I can go on!"

* * *

**What the hell is with them?** Birdy asked, incredulous.

Nothing more than a spectator to the argument on whether or not to proceed, Shinji could only shake his head. This insane pursuit of combat and victory from Asuka wasn't really surprising to him, but he had never seen this side of Misato before.

_Just let everyone come out of this okay, please,_ Shinji silently begged any deity that would listen.

* * *

Asuka squinted as she looked downwards, searching for any sign of the Angel. It was a largely futile endeavor; even with all of EVA's fancy scanning equipment, her visibility was down to virtually nothing, but focusing all her concentration on searching made the stifling heat easier to tolerate. At least, she told herself it made the heat easier to tolerate.

"How are you doing, Asuka?" Misato asked over the radio.

"Fine, if you don't count the fact that I'm covered it sweat," Asuka grumbled, finding that complaining actually _did_ make it easier to bear that heat. "I just want to get this over with and take a shower."

"There are hot springs in this area," Misato said. "We can visit them after this operation's done."

"Sounds good," Asuka said gamely.

"EVA is now at 1780, the new estimated target depth," Sakura chimed in.

"I see it!" Asuka exclaimed, looking down at a dark shape in his cockpit display. "Preparing magnetic cage for capture!"

"Be careful," Ritsuko warned, "because of the currents of the magma, you'll only get one shot at this."

Every member of NERV at the site collectively held their breath, including Asuka, loathe as she would have been to admit as much to anyone.

Unit Two moved closer to the sleeping Angel at a deceptively slow pace. Asuka knew only too well that her progress might seem sluggish, but her window of opportunity would only be open for a couple of seconds as she made her pass.

Finally, when she judged that she was near enough, Asuka held out the cage and pressed the button to activate it.

The magnetic field came to life with a low buzzing sound, and the capture indicator on Asuka's HUD flashed green.

"Electromagnetic cage has been activated," Asuka reported, a smile that was one part relief and three parts triumph spreading over her face. "The target has been captured, no problems detected. I'm beginning my ascent."

Everyone let out great sighs of relief. "Great job, Asuka!" Misato cheered.

"Asuka, are you all right?" Shinji asked.

"Of course!" Asuka replied smugly. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself! This was easy!"

* * *

Inside the mobile command center, the tension had rushed out of NERV personnel like air from a punctured balloon. Misato and Ritsuko were both watching the main display with small, relieved smiles.

"That was nerve-wracking," Ritsuko commented needlessly.

"Yeah," Misato agreed, "but I guess it was all for nothing. I wasn't too worried; Asuka knows what she's doing."

Ritsuko arched an eyebrow. "You really weren't worried that we would set off another Second Impact?" she asked.

"A little, but if I'd really believed that we would—"

The Operations Director was cut off as klaxons began to blare throughout the mobile command vehicle. "It's going crazy!" Asuka exclaimed over the radio.

"No!" Ritsuko shouted as she looked down at one of the readouts, which showed the embryo growing rapidly. "The Angel's begun to hatch! This is much earlier than we expected!"

"Cage status?" Misato barked.

"There's no way the cage can hold it!" Hyuga answered. "It's growing too quickly!"

"Damn it," Misato swore. "Asuka, jettison the cage! The objective of this operation has been switched from capture to terminate!"

"You got it!" Asuka said as she let the rapidly growing Angel loose.

She reached for her progressive knife with the D-type armor's clumsy, claw-like hands, only to make a rather disturbing discovery. "I forgot I dropped the prog knife!" she exclaimed, fear seeping into the Second Child's voice.

"No!" Misato exclaimed, having forgotten that as well. "Shinji! Prepare to send down yours!"

"Roger!"

Asuka saw the Angel approach her and reacted quickly. "Jettisoning holster!" she said, releasing the string of battery packs that had been for powering the now abandoned cage.

It was like dropping ballast, and Unit Two jerked upwards, dodging the Angel's first pass. "It's fast!" she said. "Hurry up with that prog knife already!"

"Shinji, do it!" Misato commanded.

"Right!" Shinji replied, flinging down his knife as hard as he could.

"Here it comes again!" Asuka cried as the Angel came in for another pass. This time she didn't have anything to drop. "No! Get away from me!" she shouted, as though the Angel was some kind of annoying dog.

If the Angel heard her plea, it ignored it, slamming into her EVA and clamping its mouth down onto the helmet of the D-type equipment. "Damn you!" Asuka screamed.

"Heat shield failing!" reported Hyuga.

"Left leg damaged!" added Sakura.

The progressive knife finally fell into Asuka's range of view, and she seized it desperately, frantically stabbing at the Angel's core. However, the huge knife failed to penetrate the Angel's red sphere. "It's not working!"

"Oh no! The extreme heat has altered the Angel's molecular structure! The progressive knife won't work on it!" Ritsuko exclaimed, abruptly realizing just how dire the situation was.

* * *

"Oh no," Shinji breathed as he continued to stare down into the mouth of the volcano, all too aware of what was going on beneath the surface of the lava.

**Shinji!** Birdy shouted. **Thermal expansion!**

He frowned. "What?" he whispered, totally bewildered.

**Thermal expansion! That's how Asuka can kill the Angel! Just say it! Somebody will figure it out!** Birdy urged.

Still having no idea how thermal expansion—whatever it was—could possibly help anything, but more than willing to assist in whatever way he could, the Third Child switched his transmitter on with a thought.

"Asuka! Thermal expansion!"

* * *

"Right!" the Second Child said, getting the idea immediately.

She reached up and cut her coolant lines, grabbing one of the hoses and pressing the severed end to the Angel's core. "Transfer all coolant pressure to cable number three! Do it now!"

Hyuga leapt to the task at once, and soon coolant was gushing out onto the Angel's core.

"Of course, the coolant will cause the core to contract and make it vulnerable to attack!" Ritsuko said, figuring out what Asuka was up to…and wondering why she herself hadn't thought of it.

With a savage scream, Asuka brought the progressive knife down on the Angel's core, this time managing to pierce it. The beast writhed for several seconds before finally releasing its hold on Asuka, falling down into the lava.

A sudden jolt cut her victory celebration short, however. Asuka looked up and realized that the last cable connecting her to the crane up above was rapidly shredding under the weight of her EVA.

"I've done it," she said softly, "but that's it. I'm done for."

Asuka had always known that death in battle was a possibility, but not until now had she really _believed _it. And not only was she now faced with her own demise, but it was going to happen in one of the worst ways imaginable.

* * *

_Oh my god, she's going to die,_ Shinji thought.

The idea seemed almost impossible. Asuka, who was even a bit younger than he himself, killed while fighting a war? Asuka, who, despite her flaws was probably the liveliest person Shinji knew, dead at the bottom of a volcano?

It was unthinkable…and suddenly it became intolerable as well. The notion that one of them should perish fighting the Angels, these mysterious beasts that showed up without warning or reason for seemingly nothing but the sake of terrorizing mankind abruptly became so incredibly repugnant that he wouldn't, _couldn't_ allow it to happen.

**Shinji? What are you doing?** Birdy asked nervously as he gripped Unit One's control yokes.

He didn't answer her. _Couldn't_ answer her. Because in order to answer her, to formulate a reply to her question, he'd have to think about what he was about to do. And he knew that if stopped to think about it, he'd lose his nerve entirely.

Shinji Ikari pushed forward on the control yokes, and EVA Unit One leapt over the rim of the volcano and went diving downwards.

Birdy screamed at the top of her lungs, but Shinji barely heard it, too focused upon his task.

Unit One plunged beneath the surface of the lava with a surprisingly small splash, and had Shinji not been in the grip of an almost fugue-like state of concentration, he would have lost it and started screaming immediately. The pain was _incredible_, surpassed in intensity only by the time that the Third Angel had utterly destroyed one of Unit One's eyes. Even that pain had only been in one place, while this burning agony was absolutely everywhere.

_Where is she?_ He thought, searching frantically as Unit One sank lower and lower. _Where is she?_

It was so hard to see in the magma that he nearly missed her; one second there was nothing, and the next he spied a blob that he barely realized was Unit Two in time. The Third Child grabbed onto what remained of Asuka's coolant hose with all his might, then with EVA's free hand clutched the cable they had used to lower her down.

_Got her,_ Shinji thought, releasing a small sigh.

**Damn,** Birdy said, impressed. It was the only comment she could muster at the moment.

* * *

A few hours later found Shinji, Misato and Asuka at a local onsen for the promised visit to the hot springs. Since the area had been evacuated because of the Angel and people were only now starting to return, the NERV group had the entire building practically to themselves. Only the owner was also around.

Well, the owner and Pen-Pen. How the water fowl had convinced Kaji to mail him was a mystery to Shinji, as was how he'd known where exactly to mail the penguin.

Shinji had, upon Birdy's advice, decided not to dwell on these questions further, since the only likely result of doing so was a massive headache.

"Ahh," Shinji breathed as he lowered himself into the hot water. "I never knew a bath could feel so good."

**I can't believe that you can be enjoying this after what just happened,** Birdy commented dryly.

Shinji shrugged. "I know what you mean, but this is really nice," he said softly. "By the way, sorry about back there…it just sorta happened. I couldn't let Asuka die."

Birdy sighed. **Well, everything came out okay in the end, so I guess it's okay. Just please don't do anything that suicidal again. Remember, if you die, I die, too.**

"I'll try not to," Shinji said.

**That's the best I can get out of you, with your line of work, is it? Well, I guess I can't complain, not with what I do,** Birdy said resignedly. **I definitely have a new appreciation for what it must have been like for you while I was fighting Geega and the Arcezoids.**

Shinji nodded. "By the way, that was great, the way you came up with thermal expansion like that. How'd you think of it, anyway?"

Birdy chuckled. **It was in your physics homework, actually. That was why I thought of it so quickly.**

Shinji smiled, amused despite himself that something he'd learned in school had actually had such a practical, real world application. And he hadn't actually even learned it!

"Hey, Shinji!" Asuka called from the other side of the barrier that separated the men's and women's sides of the bath.

"Um, yeah?" the Third Child called back, slightly startled.

"Could you throw your body shampoo over?" Misato asked sweetly. "We ran out of ours."

"Oh, sure," Shinji said, grabbing the requested bottle. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Asuka chirped back.

"Okay, here it comes!" Shinji said, throwing the bottle over the barrier.

"Ow!" Asuka shouted, then cursed in German. "Watch where you're throwing, baka!"

"Uh, sorry," Shinji apologized automatically, not even wondering how he was supposed to do that with the divider blocking his view.

"Oh, he hit me in my most sensitive place!" Asuka whined.

"There, there, let me take a look at it," Misato said in a comforting tone. After a moment's pause she added, "Oh, wow, your skin is so soft!"

"Ooo, so is yours!" Asuka cooed, all pain apparently forgotten.

Shinji's face reddened, and—

**I can't believe this crap!** Birdy exclaimed.

Startled, Shinji jumped, creating a large splash, the sound of which somehow set off a fit of giggles from the other side of the bath.

"Huh?" Shinji whispered, not at all sure what had gotten Birdy so angry so quickly.

**I can't believe them! You saved Asuka's life today, and in the process you saved Misato from the guilt of getting one of her child soldiers killed because of her reckless decisions! And what thanks do you get?** The Altarian ranted, far angrier on Shinji's behalf than he himself was. **Them trying to give you blue ba—!**

"It's really not a big deal," Shinji muttered, feeling his face heat.

**The hell it isn't!** Birdy snapped. **You know what? You're getting a reward from them whether they know about it or not!**

"I don't think I like whaa—!" Shinji hissed as Birdy suddenly took control of his body and he began to head for the edge of the spring.

**Trust me, Shinji.** Birdy said.

"Birdy, please, whatever you're doing, stop it right now!" Shinji pleaded.

The Federation officer didn't respond, silently forcing Shinji out of the water. The Third Child grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist, then tossed a helpless look at the rather curious penguin that was still floating in the spring.

Shinji, still under Birdy's control, stepped out of the bathing chambers and into the hallway outside. After a quick check to make sure that the owner wasn't around, Birdy forced the Third Child to bring the towel he was wearing up until the top was at his chest, and then switched places with him.

**Birdy, what are you doing?** Shinji asked desperately.

"Relax," she said, heading over to the door that led to the women's half of the bath.

**Oh no, you're not going to…**

"If they can't treat you like the conquering hero for _one day_, then I think an eyeful is the least you deserve," Birdy said, grinning mischievously.

**No! If they ever find out, they'll kill me!** Shinji cried.

Birdy ignored him and entered the woman's bathing area. Shinji tried desperately to close his eyes, but he wasn't able to. He remembered belatedly what Birdy had said about how when his eyes were open, so were hers. Obviously, the opposite was true as well.

"Oh, hi!" Birdy greeted the other two ladies in the bath cheerfully as she shed her towel and stepped into the warm water. "I wasn't expecting to see anyone else here today."

**I hope you realize that you're signing my death warrant here, Birdy Cephon!** Shinji shouted.

"We could say the same," Misato replied, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the way that this new woman seemed to be surreptitiously glancing at her chest. "I didn't think anyone else would be here because of the evacuation."

**I can't even **_**imagine**_** what Asuka will do to me if she ever finds out I'm looking through your eyes right now!** Shinji continued.

"Well, I refused to leave," Birdy said. "I guess I'm just stubborn. What about you two?"

"The same," Asuka replied curtly, deciding she didn't like the look on this new woman's face.

**Why did you bother bonding with me to save my life if you're just going to get me killed again?** Shinji demanded.

"Oh, okay," Birdy said.

She looked Asuka up and down, earning a dark scowl from the Second Child that affected her not at all, but which sent the Third Child closer still to hysteria, even as his conscience and his libido struggled over whether to commit the images he was seeing to long term memory or to mark them for hasty deletion.

**Oh god! Gonna die! Gonna die! Gonna die!**

Birdy frowned. _Geeze, he's so freaked out that he's not even enjoying this at all,_ she thought. With a small sigh, she leaned against the edge of the pool and closed her eyes, much to Shinji's relief.

_How can someone who could jump into a _volcano_ be so wishy-washy?_ She wondered.

* * *

The NERV group stayed at a hotel overnight, then returned to Tokyo-3 bright and early the next morning. Almost immediately upon their return to the city, Shinji and Asuka were called into NERV for a series of post-battle tests that lasted all day. The Third Child had a sinking feeling that Dr. Akagi was especially interested in him, but when he was released with no questions once the tests were over, he decided it had to have been his imagination.

With one day spent on homework and battling the Eighth Angel, and another on the slew of tests, this left one day before the other students of class 2-A returned from Okinawa and school began again.

There was never any question that Birdy would finally get to go out on patrol, but had Shinji known what she had planned to do it in, he might have tried to dissuade her anyway.

"Wow, you know, Asuka might be kind of crazy, but she has _killer_ fashion sense," Birdy commented appreciatively as she admired herself in the Second Child's mirror.

**I really wish you hadn't used the word "killer."** Shinji groaned.

"Would you chill out?" Birdy asked. "Asuka's gone out. She said she wouldn't be back until this afternoon, and Misato's at NERV. Who's ever gonna know that I raided Asuka's closet?"

**I don't know, but if she ever finds out about this, I am **_**so**_** dead,** Shinji whined.

"Yeah, well, as you made a point of telling me about a million times, if she ever finds out that you saw what I saw at the onsen, you're also dead," Birdy said. "She can only kill you once, so what's the difference between one capital offence and two?"

There was a certain logic to this argument, the Third Child had to admit. Shinji hesitated, not immediately able to find a flaw in it.

"So, how do I look?" Birdy asked, eager to change the subject.

**Those clothes are too small for you,** Shinji said disapprovingly.

This was true. While Birdy's build was just slender enough for the Second Child's clothing, she was too tall. The result was that the ivory skirt which was rather daring on Asuka was almost scandalously short on Birdy, and the sleeveless blue shirt revealed a good four or five inches of the Altarian's flat stomach.

"I think I look good," Birdy said, flouncing her hair.

Shinji sighed, knowing there was no winning this debate. **Are we going to go, or are you going to stand there looking at yourself until Asuka gets back?**

"Yeah, I guess we should head out," Birdy said, opening Asuka's door.

Shinji was half convinced that the Second Child would be standing there, glaring murderously and somehow aware that he was hidden inside of Birdy, but the apartment was still mercifully empty.

"Bye, Pen-Pen!" Birdy called as she departed.

"Wark!"

Birdy giggled, and then she was on her way.

Forgoing her usual method of getting around, the Altarian instead hopped a bus and was soon in the commercial district of Tokyo-3.

"Wow, this city is really big," Birdy said as she made her way through the press of people. "I didn't even realize just how big until now. You really don't get out very much, Shinji."

Shinji didn't make a reply.

Birdy ducked into a music store and began to randomly select SDAT cassettes, not even bothering to read the labels on them. She then went right up to the counter and bought the lot of them.

**What are you doing?** Shinji asked.

"I told you that you need some new music," Birdy replied softly, though the weary looking teenager behind the desk probably wouldn't have cared if she'd shouted her half of the conversation. "I'm not familiar with the music on this planet, but there's got to be a winner or two in here somewhere."

**But that's my money you're spending there,** Shinji protested.

"You just let it pile up in your bank account," Birdy replied. "Really, what's the fun in that?"

Shinji just sighed, and Birdy left the store with a bag full of SDAT cassette tapes. After that, the Federation officer simply continued to walk around for a while until she came upon an ice cream stand.

"Hey, Shinji, what's a good flavor?" Birdy asked, a look of longing in her eyes. She had seen other people eating ice cream, and she'd always thought it looked delicious.

**Uh, vanilla, I guess,** Shinji answered.

Birdy walked right up to it. "One vanilla, please!" she said cheerfully.

"One vanilla what?" asked the guy behind the counter.

"Uh…" Birdy began to sweat.

**Small cone.**

"Small cone," Birdy repeated.

"Small vanilla cone, coming right up," the man said, and moments later handed Birdy the requested item.

"Thanks!" Birdy replied cheerfully, paying the man.

The Altarian walked off, taking a long lick of her treat as she did so. "Wow! This is really good!" Birdy exclaimed. "One of the best human inventions I've encounter so far!"

**Thanks, I think,** Shinji said dryly.

"They sell tubs of this stuff at the grocery store, right Shinji?" Birdy continued. "Do you think you could pick one up?"

**I don't see why not,** Shinji replied.

"Great!" Birdy said. "Hmm, I wish I'd gotten a large cone now, though…"

**Birdy?**

"Yes?" Birdy asked between licks.

**Do you have any actual…plan for this little patrol run?** Shinji asked.

"This is the plan," Birdy said. "I go out, and hopefully one of Revi's goons will come looking for me."

**Is there any reason to believe that Revi's people are trying to seek you out?** Shinji asked.

"No."

**…**

"Look, it's all I got right now, okay?" Birdy said defensively. "Geega was my only lead, and he isn't talking."

**So, basically, unless you get phenomenally lucky, or the criminals are looking for the cop, this is really just a trip for you to hangout downtown?** Shinji asked.

"Hey, don't I deserve a little free time to just be me?" Birdy asked.

Shinji was sorely tempted to answer with a resounding "No!" and remind Birdy that she'd guaranteed his painful demise twice over in the past three days. However, his better nature won out.

**Yes.**

"Wonderful!"

* * *

Gendo Ikari didn't like meeting with his subordinates outside of his office. Outside of his dim and cavernous workspace, people were less intimidated of him, and thus more difficult for him to control.

However, it was often necessary, and fortunately, he had ways of controlling Ritsuko Akagi that were far more potent than mere intimidation.

"You wanted to show me something?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," Ritsuko said at once, gesturing for Gendo to look at some of the readouts on her computer monitor. "For a while now, I've been noticing some strange readings during the Third Child's sync tests."

An expression of mingled annoyance and disinterest immediately appeared in Gendo's eyes at the mention of his son. Most people wouldn't notice it, but Ritsuko knew how to read Gendo far better than most people.

_I'll bet he'd be a lot more interested in what I'm saying if it was about _Rei, Ritsuko thought, feeling her ire flare before regaining control of herself.

"During the sync tests, these readings only last for a few minutes," Ritsuko continued. "During the last battle against the Eighth Angel, however, they lasted until the Third Child left EVA, _and_ there was a spike in their intensity when he jumped into the volcano."

She brought up a graph to illustrate her point, but Gendo didn't bother examining it. "The point, Dr. Akagi?"

"I believe that these readings indicate the presence of some kind of entity besides the Third Child and the soul of the EVA," Ritsuko said.

_That_ got Gendo's attention. "Do you believe this presence is inside the EVA or the Third Child?"

"There's no way for me to tell, sir," Ritsuko answered reluctantly. "I can't really isolate them and still get the data I need, since the test plugs must be connected to their respective EVA Units to function, and the EVA Units can only be fully activated with a pilot."

"I see," Gendo said. "So, if something has invaded either Unit One or the Third Child, how do believe it happened?"

Ritsuko held back a grimace at the way Gendo had instantly zoned in on the flaw in her hypothesis. Evangelion was a soul sucking monster, literally; it was far from impossible that it would not be content with just Yui Ikari's soul and had absorbed someone else. However, there was no plausible way for it to do so without NERV noticing. Even if Unit One were somehow able to stealthily absorb a member of its technical crew, NERV would doubtlessly notice that person's absence.

Shinji, on the other hand, was often out of NERV's sight, more than he should be, thanks to the incompetence of the average Section Two agent. Unfortunately for Ritsuko's theory, the idea that Shinji could have somehow stolen someone's soul was absurd.

"I don't know, sir," Ritsuko admitted,

"I see," Gendo said. "In that case, keep an eye on these readings, and inform me if they begin to affect the Third Child's performance."

"Yes, sir," Ritsuko replied, knowing all too well that she'd been rebuffed. "Oh, and, sir…"

But Gendo was already gone.

* * *

**Can we go now?** Shinji asked. **If Asuka makes it back home before we do…**

"Geeze, you really that freaked out by this, aren't you?" Birdy said softly as she worked her way through a mall. "No, we can't go back yet."

**Why not?**

Birdy grinned. "I'm feeling phenomenally lucky."

**You mean…**

She nodded. "Someone's following us," she said. "I just need to lure him to a nice, secluded spot before I can confront him."

**Well, there's a hallway down there that just leads to stores that are being renovated,** Shinji said. **Nobody's down there.**

"Perfect," Birdy said.

She fought her way through the crowds, resisting the urge to use her Altarian strength to just shove the humans out of the way, then walked briskly down the empty hallway. Sure enough, a man in a business suit pursued her until they were both out of sight of the crowd of shoppers.

And Birdy struck. The Altarian whirled around and rushed the man before he could hope to react, grabbing hold of his coat and slamming him roughly against a wall, evicting a grunt from him.

"Who are you?!" she demanded. "Why are you following me?!"

"I'm a…a talent scout," the man gasped out.

Birdy blinked. "Talent scout?" she asked blankly, having no idea what he was talking about.

The man raised a hand and a business card appeared in it like a magic trick. Birdy peered at it, and Shinji saw that it indeed identified the man as a talent scout working with Banzai.

**It looks like he's telling the truth,** Shinji said. **Just take the card, tell him you'll think about it, and leave.**

"Um, apparently, I'll think about it," Birdy said, snatching the card from the talent scout's hand. "Sorry about…throwing you against the wall like that. Bye!"

With that, she rushed off before the rather stupefied talent scout could collect his wits.

**Can we go home **_**now?**_ Shinji asked.

"Yeah, we can go back to the apartment," Birdy said, disappointed over the false alarm. "Say, what is a talent scout, anyway?"

* * *

Birdy made it back to the apartment well before either of Shinji's flat mates did, much to his relief, and by the time the Second Child returned, he had already started working on dinner.

"Hello, Asuka," Shinji greeted as the German walked in. "Did you enjoy your day off?"

"Not as much as I would have if we'd been in Okinawa," Asuka replied. "What about you, Third?"

"Oh, today was okay, I guess," Shinji replied.

"Yeah, I…hey, what's this?" Asuka asked.

"What's what?" Shinji asked, turning.

His eyes widened when he realized what the redhead was holding. He had painstakingly done everything he could to try and leave no trace of Asuka's wardrobe having been meddled with, and he had made sure to put away the pile of SDAT tapes Birdy had purchased.

But Birdy had just carelessly left the talent scout's card sitting on the kitchen table, and Shinji had forgotten to throw it away.

"Don't tell me Banzai was scouting _you_, Third?" Asuka asked after examining the card for a moment.

"Uh…" Shinji said, feeling very much like a deer trapped in the headlights.

**Tell her you ran into a guy who was giving them out, and you took one for her because you thought she might be interested,** Birdy instructed.

"There was a talent scout giving out his card at the mall today," Shinji said at once. "I took one for you. Thought you might be interested."

To his surprise, Asuka smiled at him. In fact, she didn't just smile. She positively _beamed_ at him.

"Baka," she said gently, shaking her head, "I don't have time for this sort of thing, not with school and EVA."

Asuka then left the kitchen, her smile never wavering. Shinji blinked dumbly after her until she disappeared into her room.

"What just happened there?" Shinji whispered.

**Isn't it obvious?** Birdy asked.

"No," Shinji replied.

**By telling her you took that guy's card for her, you were indirectly saying that you think she's pretty enough to be a celebrity,** Birdy explained.

"I…I did?" Shinji stammered, blinking.

**Yup.**

"Wait, you told me to flirt with Asuka without telling me that you were telling me to do that?" Shinji blurted out, then frowned, not entirely sure that statement had made sense.

**Well, I thought it was pretty obvious what the hidden meaning of that gesture would be,** Birdy said, sounding genuinely surprised that he hadn't realized it.

Shinji pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not to those of us who don't speak Woman," he grumbled.

* * *

Misato returned from NERV a couple of hours later, and the three of them sat down for a relatively quiet dinner. Shinji felt like he needed it after the insane and stressful "vacation."

So, naturally, something had to come along to ruin the tranquility.

"Oh, before I forget, I wanted to tell both of you something," Misato said, just as Shinji was starting to do the dishes after their evening meal.

"What is it, Misato?" Shinji asked.

"I've been hearing on the news that there's been a series of bizarre murders," Misato said, worry clear in her features. "A lot of bodies have been found in the bad part of the city."

"How are these murders so bizarre?" Asuka asked.

"The ages of the victims have varied from mid twenties to early forties, but when their bodies are found, they _all_ look like they're a hundred years old, at least," Misato said.

Asuka frowned. "Are you sure the cops aren't just misidentifying these people?" she asked, incredulous.

Misato nodded. "They've found ID on most of the bodies, and they've double checked using dental records."

"Mein Gott," Asuka said softly.

**Hmm, sounds interesting,** Birdy commented.

"Oh no," Shinji whispered.

**Come on! We **_**know**_** that there are extraterrestrial criminals here, and this series of crazy murders has been happening in the city.** **Coincidence? I think not!** Birdy said. **Christella Revi was a scientist before she turned to crime. I can totally see her doing experiments on humans!**

Shinji just nodded, not wanting to start up another conversation with Birdy right in front of Misato and Asuka.

"Anyway, even though you two are younger than whoever doing this apparently like his victims, I don't want you two to shake your Section Two details," Misato continued. "I know it's pitifully easy to do that but _don't_. The average Section Two guy might have the brains of a rock, but they can all fight."

Shinji and Asuka both agreed not to ditch their bodyguards, the latter doing so somewhat reluctantly and the former just knowing that he'd be breaking his word sooner or later, thanks to Birdy and her investigation.

He hated lying to Misato, but what else could he do? If he refused to try avoid ditching Section Two, his guardian would doubtlessly demanded to know why.

Once he'd finished with the dishes, Shinji quickly went to his room so he could talk to Birdy without being overheard by his flat mates. "Do you really think Revi could be behind these murders?" he asked at once.

**It's possible, and unless Geega cracks and starts talking, it's the best we've got,** Birdy said.

_The best _you've_ got,_ Shinji silently corrected. Then, of course, came the inevitable counterpoint. _But the sooner she gets Revi, the sooner I can get my body fixed and can be alone in my own head again._

"What do you want to do?" Shinji asked.

**I want to go out on patrol tonight, after Misato and Asuka go to sleep,** Birdy replied.

Shinji groaned. "I need sleep, you know."

**You can sleep while I'm on patrol,** Birdy replied.

Shinji rolled his eyes. "I can't sleep while I know you're looking for a fight with aliens and killer robots!"

**Then sleep in class tomorrow,** Birdy said. **I'm not going to turn this into a regular thing, I promise!**

Shinji scowled. "The odds of us finding anything…"

**Like I said, it's the best we've got,** Birdy said.

"If we don't find anything, we don't do this again," Shinji said resignedly.

**Done!** Birdy agreed at once. **Now all we have to do is wait for the other two to hit the hay!**

_This is going to be a very long night,_ Shinji thought with a sigh.

* * *

Hikawa smiled as he gazed down at his monitor, its eerie greenish glow serving as the only light source in the room.

Would this at last be the night he perfected it? The night that he at last completed his magnum opus?

He thought so. Of course, he _always_ thought so, but somehow this didn't serve to diminish his expectations by one iota. He knew he was close to success, decades upon decades of work and careful experimentation drawing tantalizingly near to producing the success that would outshine even his previous triumphs.

The only question was whether this ultimate triumph would occur this night, or on one in the near future.

The picture on his monitor displayed a man who was bare from the waist up, and strapped into a chair with thick leather restraints. Plastic tubes without number were connected to him all over his upper body, and each of the tubes led to a glass vial that contained a clear liquid.

By all appearances, it might have been water or perhaps a saline solution, but it was so much more than that.

Hikawa twisted a dial on his control panel, and the liquid in the tubes began to bubble and froth as it was rapidly fed into the test subject's veins. The man threw his head back and screamed, a howl of utmost agony that would have rivaled the final shriek of any murder victim.

Hikawa smiled.

Then, the glass tubes began to break. There was no visible cause of their destruction; the things just seemed to explode of their own violation, sending their contents and shards of glass flying everywhere.

A few such shards embedded themselves into the flesh of the test subject. He didn't seem to notice, probably because the pain from these wounds was nothing compared to the torture he was already experiencing.

Hikawa's smile widened, and his breath began to quicken with excitement.

The man's muscles abruptly bulged, turning his very average build into one that bodybuilders would have envied. With one desperate yank, he snapped the leather restraint that trapped his right arm.

"Yes…" Hikawa breathed.

And then the test subject released one more scream and abruptly went silent, slouching forward limply. His flesh began to shrivel up at an incredible rate, the huge muscles that had appeared seconds ago rapidly withering away until the test subject looked like a burnt out husk of a man. His skin took on a distinctly grayish tint.

"Damn," Hikawa grumbled in annoyance, leaning back in his chair.

If he didn't perfect the current version of the serum he was working on, he'd be forced to present Revi with a lesser drug when she finally made it to Japan. He was somewhat loathe to do that, especially since none of his older versions of the serum had ever really proved themselves outside of a laboratory setting.

Well, there was nothing to be done about it now, Hikawa decided as he summonsed a pair of his new helpers to take away the failed experiment.

* * *

The Third Child didn't have any idea how right he'd been about the night being long until several hours after Birdy began her new patrol. The first, timid light of pre-dawn twilight was starting to show on the horizon, and yet Birdy continued to leap from rooftop to rooftop, searching relentlessly for some sign of the mysterious serial murderer.

**Birdy, it must be at least 4:30 by now, maybe even 5 o'clock. Can't we go back? I'd like to get some sleep before I have to go to school,** Shinji begged.

The Federation officer sighed. Shinji had been asking to go home for the past hour, at least. She was more than a little reluctant to call it a night; she was convinced that Revi was connected to the strange murders that had been happening, but she had no intention of breaking the deal she'd made with Shinji before they'd left.

"Just a little longer," she pleaded.

**You've been saying that for at least an hour now,** Shinji said, yawning. **Face it, Birdy, we'll never find anything like this, even if there is something here to find.**

Birdy sighed in defeat. "All right," she said, releasing a yawn of her own. "I guess we'll just have to hope that Geega…hold that thought."

**What?** Shinji asked.

"Look," Birdy said, gazing down toward the street.

Shinji saw a pair of men carrying what appeared to be a rolled up carpet, which was bulging strangely in the middle. If that wasn't suspicious enough, the pair were dressed in trench coats, scarves, and fedoras. There was also something unmistakably mechanical about their movements.

**Arcezoids,** Shinji said. **Well I'll be damned.**

"I knew it," Birdy said triumphantly.

**Well?** Shinji asked after a moment passed and Birdy didn't strike. **Aren't you going to go after them?**

"Hell no," Birdy said softly. "I wouldn't get anything from smashing them. I have to follow them."

Shinji wanted to protest. If the Arcezoids weren't close to wherever they had come from, morning could come before they reached it. However, he doubted that Birdy would walk away from an opportunity like this no matter what he said, and he was too tired to argue with her, anyway.

Birdy tailed the Arcezoids as they deposited the body inside a dumpster, jumping from roof to roof after them as noiselessly as possible.

"Now hopefully they'll head back to their base," Birdy muttered, leaning over the side of the building and peeking down at her quarry.

Unfortunately, the Altarian underestimated how broken down the slums of Tokyo-3 were. A small piece of crumbling cement broke off under her weight and went falling to the ground below, where it shattered upon impact.

The resulting noise seemed deafening in the early morning quiet.

"Damn it!" Birdy hissed as the Arcezoids both looked up.

The two robots both bent their legs and then leapt upwards, sailing far higher into the air than seemed possible. The two robots ripped off their human disguises as they soared upwards, nearing the top of the building Birdy was perched upon.

The Altarian quickly stood up straight, backed up a few steps, and then raised her hands in a defensive stance.

The Arcezoids sailed over the top of the building, reaching the apexes of their jumps at the exact same moment, and then smoothly came down upon the roof.

Only to crash right through the top of the decrepit building, barely slowing down as rotten wood, cracked plaster, and old cement gave way beneath their considerable weight.

"Well," Birdy said, a large drop of sweat forming on the back of her head, "that was—"

A metallic hand burst through the roof and grabbed hold of Birdy's ankle before she could complete her sentence. The Federation officer didn't scream as she was pulled downward into the room below.

The Arcezoid that had grabbed Birdy slammed her down hard onto the wooden floor he was standing on, causing her nose to slam into the floor.

"Ow! Damnit!" Birdy swore, kicking at her assailant and sending it staggering backwards several steps.

The other robot immediately pounced, attempting to wrap its mechanical hands around her neck as she rolled over onto her back. Birdy grabbed its wrists and squeezed, evicting a squeal of buckling metal. She shoved this Arcezoid backwards as well, its hands hanging limply from its broken wrists.

The Altarian leapt to her feet and then lashed out with a savage high kick. Her leg connected with the Arcezoid's head, knocking it clean off of its shoulders and sending it flying into the wall, punching a hole through it. The robot fell forward, quite dead.

The remaining Arcezoid stepped forward. Birdy smirked and motioned for the mechanical man bring it on.

The robot charged, striking out with a punch that could shatter stone.

Birdy caught the machine's fist in her hand, halting it right in its path. The Altarian shook her head in disgust, sending her long hair swishing.

Then she released a loud, wordless battle cry and fired a punch of her own right at its chest. Her fist traveled straight through the robot's armor as though it were made of tin foil. She grabbed a handful of wires and then savagely pulled them out, snapping several of them in the process. Sparks leapt from the severed electrical lines.

Birdy then gave the mechanical man a little push, causing it to fall backwards onto the floor.

"Well," she sighed, dusting her hands off, "that was a bust. Okay, Shinji, we can go back now."

* * *

"Dr. Hikawa," Gomez said, barging into the man's office.

Hikawa barely bothered to look up from his computer. "You know, Gomez, here on Earth we have this tradition we usually perform before entering another's room. It's called knocking," he commented sardonically.

"I warned you to be more careful about disposing of your test subjects," Gomez continued, in his usual, flat voice, "but you didn't listen."

Now Hikawa did look up. "Don't tell me the police actually found and confronted the Arcezoids," he said, incredulous.

"Worse," Gomez said. "The Federation officer. Fortunately, the Arcezoids found her. They were destroyed, but at least they didn't lead her back here."

Hikawa frowned. "How did the Federation officer discover them?"

"I can only assume that she heard about how your test subjects were showing up all over that part of the city and went to investigate," Gomez said. "You'll have to be more cautious from now on."

With that, the big man departed as abruptly as he'd arrived, leaving Hikawa alone. The scientist silently leaned back in his chair.

_So, the Federation officer tried to follow the Arcezoids home…interesting,_ he thought, a sinister grin forming on his face.

* * *

Author's Notes: I admit, until recently I didn't quite realize just how many balls I'd have to juggle to make this crossover work. It was rather daunting when it really dawned on me, to the point that I wrote an outline for the next few chapters, jsut to ensure I don't forget something important. And I've never written an outline for a fanfic before.

Anyway, I know a few of you have been asking for me to include stuff from Decode, but unless it makes it easier for me to keep everything flowing smoothly, I probably won't. Too much stuff to do already.

Fans of the Birdy the Mighty OAV will notice that I'm straying from the plotline a bit more here. The reason is mostly that I didn't like how most of the bad guys came to Birdy in the OAV, and she didn't need to do much of any sleuthing at all. It was probably necessary to do it that way, thanks to the restraints of how short the OAV was. I don't have those restraints, though, so Birdy's going to need to actually go out and look for the bad guys.

Zoro50, this chapter had the first time Birdy went out on patrol in it. Shinji's weariness in the previous one is mostly of a mental nature; I can tell you from my own experience that people as introverted as Shinji is need to be alone for a while to really unwind and recharge. And, of course, thanks to Birdy he'd never alone anymore, and he isn't used to that yet. I was really just looking for a reason to explain why he was short with Birdy to the point of it being perhaps borderline OOC. And while Birdy may seem to get the short end of the stick at times, it's kind of understood that she should, since they're stuck together because she killed him.

Animefan29, Birdy had a partner named Tute in the Decode anime, but he died or something pretty quickly, and I'm mostly working with OAV, anyway. And I'll keep your suggestion about the omakes in mind, but right now I'm not sure how I'd do that.

As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers. Now for some fun!

* * *

Omake

Mistake

Birdy ignored him and entered the woman's bathing area.

**Woah…** Shinji breathed as Birdy stepped inside.

"Oh, hi!" Birdy greeted the other two ladies in the bath cheerfully as she shed her towel and stepped into the warm water. "I wasn't expecting to see anyone else here today."

**Oh man, this is so hot!** Shinji exclaimed. **Birdy Cephon, you are the **_**greatest!**_

"You're enjoying this a little _too_ much," she mumbled softly.

Shinji ignored her. **Hey, could you ask Misato to jump up and down for a little while? Please?**

"Shinji…"

**Bow chicka wow wow!** Shinji sang jubilantly.

_Smack!_

"Ow!" Birdy groaned, ignoring the way the other two women were staring at her as if she'd just lost her mind. "I forgot I should only do that while we're him."

**Ha!** Shinji laughed. **How do _you_ like it?**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Four: **Experiments and Relocations**

Being a student of class 2-A in Tokyo-3 Municipal Junior High School was an exercise in trying (or not) to stay awake in spite of incredible boredom. It was sad but true.

Really, it wasn't the school's fault. Thanks to the Angel attacks, the bulk of the teachers who had lived in the city had quickly packed up and left, taking advantage of being in a profession that allowed them to work just about anywhere in the country. As a result, the school had been forced to hire a retired individual to teach class 2-A, and said individual never failed to wander into reminiscence of the world prior to Second Impact.

On the plus side, however, it meant that Shinji didn't feel the least bit guilty about conversing with Birdy during class.

"I don't get why you want me to look this up," Shinji whispered, as he went through a number of articles about the murders they now knew Revi's people were behind on his laptop.

**I want to get an idea of how often they dump a body,** Birdy answered thoughtfully. **Judging from how often they're found, I'd say about once a week. What do you think?**

"I guess," Shinji whispered, shrugging slightly. "But _why_ are you so interested in this?"

**I want to go out again at night,** Birdy answered.

"What?!" Shinji hissed.

A little too loudly, it turned out. A few people turned to look at him, and the Sensei paused in his droning and looked up. "Mr. Ikari, is there something you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"

"No, Sensei," Shinji said contritely.

_He didn't notice a thing when everyone found out I was a pilot and mobbed me in the middle of class, but he heard _that? He thought.

**You don't have to speak to me right now, you know. That computer has a word processing program on it, doesn't it? Just type what you want to tell me,** Birdy said.

Nodding, Shinji took a quick look around to ensure no one was watching him, then opened the program and pretended to be dutifully taking notes on the lecture.

(You promised that we'd only do that night patrol once) Shinji typed.

**No, I promised that if we didn't find anything, we wouldn't do it again,** Birdy replied. **But we **_**did**_** find something.**

(You don't honestly expect to be able to find Arcezoids dumping a body again?) Shinji asked. (They'll be watching for you)

**Probably, but you'll notice that the bodies haven't stopped turning up. They haven't even picked a new dumping ground. If they're arrogant enough not to do that, they might be arrogant enough to not be watching too hard,** Birdy said. **Besides, this is still the only lead we have to go on. If Geega hasn't talked by now, I don't think he's going to.**

(I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?) Shinji asked.

**Nope!** Birdy answered cheerfully.

(When do you want to go?) Shinji typed.

**Tomorrow night. If I've got the pattern right, that's when the Arcezoids will go out to dispose of another body,** Birdy replied.

(Fine) Shinji typed, not looking forward to that night at all.

The bell rang, jolting the Sensei out of his lecture as usual. "Everyone, read chapter four in your history textbook for tomorrow," he said. "Also, don't forget about the parent-teacher meetings that are coming up. The school will call your home if you fail to inform your parents about them."

There were a few, decidedly unenthusiastic statements of agreement from the students, and then everyone began to pack up to leave. Since there were tests scheduled at NERV, Shinji joined the other two EVA pilots, and the three of them set out for headquarters.

"Oh, hey, could we stop for a second?" Shinji asked as the trio passed a payphone. "Sorry, but I need to make a phone call."

"Yes," Rei answered.

"Yeah, I guess so," Asuka said, checking her wristwatch. "We have time."

Shinji nodded and then went over to the payphone, quickly inserting his money and dialing a number before he came to his senses and stopped himself. The phone rang for a few times, and then…

"Hello?" answered a voice that made ice seem warm by comparison.

Shinji swallowed, feeling his willpower eroding rapidly. "H-Hello, Father. It's me Shinji," he replied, then felt like kicking himself.

Who else besides Shinji would refer to Gendo as his father?

"Yes? What is it? I'm busy," Gendo practically growled, his tone making it crystal clear that he considered this call from his only child nothing more than a petty annoyance.

"There's a parent-teacher meeting," Shinji forced out, "at school. I'm supposed to tell my—"

"I have delegated all those responsibilities to Katsuragi," Gendo cut him off. "Don't bother me…this…again…"

His father's words dissolved into a burst of static, and then cut off entirely. Shinji frowned and looked down at the receiver.

**You know, Shinji, I really don't get your relationship with your dad,** Birdy commented, not unkindly.

Shinji sighed. "And you think I do?" he muttered.

The Third Child rejoined the other two pilots, who'd been standing a short distance away to allow him some privacy. "Finished?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah," Shinji answered, "though the call was cut off toward the end. I don't get why…"

Asuka waved his worry off. "I'm sure it's nothing."

* * *

In NERV headquarters, Misato stepped into an elevator and pressed the button for her desired floor. All was perfectly normal and mundane, until…

"Hey!"

The Operations Director looked up and saw Kaji sprinting toward her at top speed. "Hold the elevator!" he called.

Keeping her face completely blank, Misato reached out and stabbed the door close button. The doors began to slide shut…Misato could taste salvation…

And Kaji made it just in time, sticking his hand into the remaining gap between the doors and stopping them mere seconds before they shut entirely.

_Damn it,_ Misato thought.

"Wow, I haven't run that hard in a while," Kaji panted as stepped inside. "So, what's with the long face, sunshine?"

"It's nausea from having to see your face," Misato replied snidely.

"You wound me," Kaji replied, in a voice that suggested just the opposite.

The doors closed, and the elevator began to descend deeper into NERV.

For about ten seconds. Then the car jolted to a sudden stop that nearly sent the both of them tumbling to the floor.

_Damn it,_ Misato thought.

Meanwhile, all over Tokyo-3, street lights winked out, computers shut down, and everything else that required electrical power ground to a halt.

* * *

Rei Ayanami slid her card through the reader at the Geofront access point, but nothing happened. It neither allowed her entry nor rejected her like it had when she'd attempted to use an outdated card.

"You must be doing it wrong!" Asuka proclaimed, pushing herself forward. "Here, let me."

The redhead vigorously slid her own card back and forth through the reader several times, but this also failed to evict any kind of response from the machine.

"Ugh! Stupid thing must be broken!" Asuka snarled.

**Oh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,** Birdy commented. **Either that or it's just that time of the month for her.**

Shinji rolled his eyes. _I thought only _guys_ ever said that kind of thing about girls, _he thought._ Though, then again, she might be right…_

"We should try and contact headquarters," Rei said. "I will attempt to use the phones here at the station."

Asuka huffed, clearly annoyed with Rei taking charge but got out her cell phone all the same. Shinji, figuring that there was no point in doing the same with his own phone, climbed over the barrier that their cards should have opened and began trying the doors beyond.

"It's dead," Rei said after a couple of minutes, hanging up the phone.

"Mine too," Asuka said, snapping her cell phone shut and placing it back in her pocket.

"None of the doors work, either," Shinji sighed.

Rei silently placed her bag on the ground and began to search through it. Apparently realizing what she was up to, Asuka immediately began to do the same.

"What are you looking for?" Shinji asked, puzzled.

"I'm looking for my emergency manual! What are you, stupid?" Asuka snapped, causing Shinji to retreat a couple of steps.

**Wow, she really **_**is**_** even crankier than usual,** Birdy said.

"It says that we should report to headquarters for further orders," Rei said softly, already putting the manual away.

"Right, but first we have to decide who's going to be this group's leader!" Asuka said. "And seeing as how I'm clearly the most qualified person for the job, I nominate myself. Any objections?"

**She's less familiar with this place than either you or Rei. Say something,** Birdy prompted.

_Hell no!_ Shinji thought in reply, even though he knew Birdy couldn't hear it.

"I didn't think so. Well, let's go!" Asuka said cheerfully, spinning on her heel.

"Headquarters is in the other direction," Rei said in her usual, soft voice.

"Of course it is," Asuka said, "I was just testing you!"

**Does she honestly believe either of you will buy that for even one second?** Birdy wondered aloud.

Shinji didn't bother to reply, and just followed Asuka and Rei as they headed off.

* * *

Well away from the currently powerless Tokyo-3, a group of high ranking JSSDF officers were currently gazing up at their strategic screen. It was normally a pretty dull view of a map of part of Japan, however, the rather large dot that was slowly moving across it toward Tokyo-3 made it significantly more interesting than usual.

"What's the word?" General Hiro asked.

Colonel Iwanaga shook his head. "We're unable to contact NERV or the civilian government of Tokyo-3."

Hiro grunted. He knew that Tokyo-3's civilian government, in as much as one existed aside from the MAGI, consisted of a group of technicians who spent their working hours entering data into the supercomputer. He honestly wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if that group of eggheads didn't have the common sense to answer a ringing phone.

That they couldn't get in touch with anyone from NERV, though…_that_ was reason for concern, especially with an Angel on the march.

"Anything from central?" Iwanaga asked.

Hiro snorted. "Those Tokyo-2 assholes? You know how they are. They always defer to us in times like these!"

"So, what are _we_ going to do?" Iwanaga asked.

"If we can't get in touch with NERV, then I guess we'll just have to send someone to go there in person," Hiro said.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Shinji asked. "It seems like we're going up again."

"Of course I'm sure, Third Child!" Asuka barked. "Would you stop questioning me already?"

The three Children were already deep within the bowels of Tokyo-3, but they seemed to keep falling short of actually making it down into the Geofront and to NERV headquarters.

**We're going to be lost in the dark forever,** Birdy proclaimed with exaggerated grimness.

Shinji was sorely tempted to remind the Altarian (again) that he didn't need her to provide a running commentary on his life, but he decided that wouldn't be the smartest move at the moment. If Asuka noticed him muttering something under his breath, she'd assume it was him quietly griping about her, he had no doubt.

The three children continued to walk through the dark corridors in silence for a few minutes, until Asuka finally spoke up.

"So, First, I hear that you're the Commander's favorite," Asuka said.

Shinji grimaced. "Asuka, this isn't the time for this…"

"Oh, stuff it, Third! No one asked you!" Asuka snapped, then turned her attention back to Rei. "I'll bet that you must get a lot of special treatment, being the favorite."

Rei didn't bother to make a reply.

"It's all right to admit it, you know," Asuka said.

Rei remained silent.

"You're not fooling anyone," Asuka pressed, her voice starting to mutate into a growl as her very limited patience started to run out.

Rei abruptly turned to face Asuka, her face as blank as ever. "I am not the Commander's favorite," she said, "and I'm not treated any better. I know this quite well."

With her piece said, Rei turned and continued to walk off. Asuka, taken aback by the First Child's odd reaction, just stood there for a few seconds.

Then she leaned toward Shinji and whispered. "I know her type. The First Child thinks she's better than everyone."

**How can she say that with a straight face?** Birdy wondered, making no attempt to hide her amazement.

Shinji just did the safest thing and kept his mouth shut as he continued walking.

* * *

While Hyuga Makoto considered Misato Katsuragi to be an incredible woman in more ways than one, the NERV technician would be the first to admit that she wasn't perfect. No amount of infatuation could make him believe so, not when she regularly ordered him to pick up her laundry from the dry cleaners for her.

Normally, having this task dumped on him by his superior officer was a mild annoyance, nothing more. It was certainly not enough for him to even contemplate reporting her to one of the commanders for abusing her authority, which he was fairly sure making him do her chores constituted.

Today, however, having to pick up Misato's laundry had resulted in him getting stuck in the middle of the city during a power outage.

_Man, I can't imagine how this day could get any worse,_ Makoto thought as he walked along the currently dead monorail line.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a rather large propeller plane passing overhead.

"This is the Third District JSSDF!" blared from several loudspeakers mounted on the outside of the plane. "An unidentified object has been detected moving toward this area. All residents are ordered to evacuate to the designated shelters."

Makoto gaped, unable to believe the timing. "Uh-oh. I gotta report this to headquarters!" he said, all too aware that the unidentified object had to be an Angel. "But how…?"

Just then, a van with its own series of loudspeakers approached. "Vote Takahashi for mayor! He's the candidate who stays calm even in situations like these!"

"God bless political candidates who are too poor to buy airtime for their advertisements," Makoto said vehemently, just before running to flag down the van.

* * *

**I think it might've been faster if we'd just waited at the Geofront access station for the power to come back on,** Birdy commented.

Shinji couldn't help but silently agree with her. Asuka had taken to trying every door they came upon, seemingly certain that each one had their destination behind it. So far, she had found three doors that led to the streets of Tokyo-3 and about half a dozen doors to maintenance shafts that looked like no one had ventured into them since the excavation of the Geofront over a decade ago.

"Uh, maybe we should try something different," Shinji suggested timidly.

"Stop questioning me!" Asuka snapped. "If you didn't want me to be leader—"

"Silence please," Rei interrupted.

Asuka scowled and was about to snap at Rei when she too heard what had caught the First Child's attention.

"Attention all NERV personnel!" shouted someone from above them. "An Angel is approaching Tokyo-3! Attention all NERV personnel! An Angel is approaching Tokyo-3!"

"That's Hyuga!" Asuka exclaimed. "Hey, Hyuga! Hyuga!"

All three Children called up to the technician, but it was in vain. The sound of his voice soon faded, leaving them alone again.

"We really need to get to headquarters," Shinji said. "Now."

"Right," Asuka nodded in agreement. "Follow me."

**Oh boy…** Birdy muttered.

For the next several minutes, Asuka continued to lead the other two pilots through the underground tunnels, at a faster clip but with an unimproved sense of direction. It wasn't too long before she discovered another door.

"This has _got_ to be the Geofront this time!" Asuka proclaimed confidently.

She unlocked the heavy door and quickly pulled it open…only to be confronted with the sight of a huge, spider-like monster. A single, spindly leg crashed down right in front of the door Asuka had opened, with enough force to cause the ground to shake. Asuka screamed as she fell backwards, then quickly got to her feet and shut the door, panting.

Shinji and Rei just stared at her.

"Okay, now that I've visually confirmed this Angel's presence, we can continue on!" Asuka said.

Shinji and Rei both sweat dropped.

**Does she honestly believe either of you will buy that for even one second?** Birdy wondered for the second time that day.

Rei obviously didn't buy it. "This way," the First Child said, walking off.

Asuka briefly looked like she was about to object to Rei taking charge, but then her better judgment seemed to kick in at last and she conceded to following the blue haired girl.

* * *

"Sir!" Hyuga exclaimed as he burst into the currently dark and oppressively warm command center. "An Angel is approaching our location! We have to launch an EVA to fight it!"

Most men would have reacted with shock, or cursed the terrible luck of having an Angel show up at such a time. Gendo Ikari, however, was not most men.

"In that case, we must prepare to manually launch the EVA's," the commander of NERV proclaimed, rising from his chair.

Fuyutski's eyes widened. "Manually launch the EVA's? Is that even possible?"

"We have a diesel engine and manpower," Gendo said. "It can be done."

"Yes, sir," Fuyutski agreed, though he was still privately dubious.

For the next half hour, all the capable hands that could be found labored to ready the Evangelions for launch, a task that could be done in mere minutes with the aid of machines. The enormously heavy entry plugs had to be moved into position, extra battery packs had to be put on to compensate for the lack of umbilical cables, and the restraints which held back the great beasts when they weren't needed had to be eased by cutting the hydraulic lines which kept them in place. With time so pressing and the job requiring so much manpower, even Gendo himself joined the technicians down in the trenches, something that was quite without precedent.

"Well, we're ready," Ritsuko said. "Now all we need are the pilots."

"How do we know they'll show up?" Maya asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about that," Ritsuko said confidently. "I'm sure they'll be along—"

A section of the nearby ventilation duct suddenly collapsed, sending Shinji and Asuka falling to the floor at the two women's feet, where they landed in an undignified heap. Rei landed gracefully beside them a moment later.

"—soon." Ritsuko finished.

"Ugh," Shinji groaned as he got up. Once he was on his feet, he immediately turned to Ritsuko. "The EVA's?"

"Already on standby," Ritsuko said, hooking a thumb toward the still sleeping giants.

"But how?" Shinji asked, confused. "There's no power…"

"It was all done manually," Ritsuko explained. "The Commander did it."

Shinji took a closer look through the darkness and was shocked not only to see that a group of men were opening the hatches of the entry plugs with old fashioned ropes and pulleys, but that his Father was among them.

"My Father?" Shinji said, startled.

"Yes, Commander Ikari believed in you, so he had the EVA's prepped for launch," Akagi said.

**I **_**really**_** don't get your relationship with your dad,** Birdy said.

* * *

Not much later, the trio of Evangelions found themselves trapped within a side tunnel of the huge access shaft they had planned to climb up in order to reach the surface.

Unfortunately, the plan had been rather badly derailed by the Angel, which had taken up position over the mouth of the shaft and had begun to send down deadly acid which had caused the EVA's to lose their battery packs and rifles, as well as damn near sending them plummeting all the way to the bottom.

Now the three of them were just…waiting there, seemingly at a loss on how to proceed.

"What are we gonna do?" Shinji finally spoke up, unable to bear the silence any longer.

"What are we gonna do?" Asuka echoed incredulously. "We're gonna beat it! That's what we're gonna do!"

"Okay, but how?" Shinji asked.

The Second Child didn't respond, and Shinji was about to call her name again, this time more forcefully. However, he halted just as he was opening his mouth when he glanced at the image of Asuka in the "FROM EVA-02" box on his HUD.

The pilot of Unit Two looked thoughtful.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," Asuka announced abruptly. "There will be three positions: offense, defense, and backup. Defense will head up the shaft, neutralize the Angel's AT field, and protect the offense from the acid. Backup will head down the shaft, retrieve the rifle, and throw it up to the offense, who will then destroy the Angel."

"I will take the defensive position," Rei said.

"Sorry, First Child, but that's _my_ job," Asuka said. "You'll be backup, and Shinji will take offense."

"But it's too dangerous!" Shinji protested, knowing perfectly well what 'protecting' the offense would entail.

"I have to do this, Shinji," Asuka said, steel in her voice. She grinned. "After all, I need to pay you back for what happened in the last battle."

**She might be crazy, but she sure as hell pays her debts,** Birdy observed, her tone one of somewhat reluctant admiration.

"All right," Asuka said, waiting until a fresh shower of acid passed. "EVA charge!"

Unit Two leapt back into the shaft, heading upwards as quickly as Asuka could make it move. When the red behemoth was high enough, Asuka planted Unit Two's hands and feet firmly against the walls and covered as much area with her EVA's body as she could. She braced herself for the agony she knew was inevitable.

Unit Zero leapt down the shaft, allowing gravity to claim it. Mere seconds before the blue giant slammed into the ground, retrorockets in the back of its legs opened up and slowed its descent. It still landed hard, but the EVA's legs didn't snap from the fall.

Unit One jumped out into the shaft, fully extending its legs and pressing its feet and back into the wall, propping itself up while leaving its arms free.

Acid spilled down from the Angel's huge eye, splashing down onto Unit Two's back.

Asuka groaned in pain, tears of agony forming in the corners of her eyes as she experienced the pain of having her back burned away by chemical fire. Her display flickered as the intense pain she was experiencing began to disrupt the neural link between her and her EVA.

But despite whatever flaws she might have, the Second Child's will to win was like iron. Even her worst foe would never attempt to claim otherwise. Her grip on the walls never wavered.

"Ikari!" Rei yelled as she threw up a pallet rifle.

Shinji, to his mild surprise, caught the weapon without fumbling over it at all.

**Nice!** Birdy commented.

Caught off guard by the compliment, Shinji very nearly dropped the pallet rifle and had to scramble frantically for a few seconds to get a good grip on it again.

**Sorry,** Birdy said, her wince audible. Shinji ignored her.

"Asuka!" he shouted, even as he took up upwards. "Get out of the way!"

Relieved beyond measure but, as always, too proud to show it, Asuka just moved Unit Two to the side. "I'm clear!"

Shinji wasted no time pulling the trigger, sending an almost solid stream of deadly shells originally designed to fire from the main gun of modern tanks rocketing upwards. The massive rounds easily punched through the Angel's hide and then flew out the other end.

A moment later, the pallet rifle clicked empty, but that was all right. Above them, the Angel's four longs legs gave out, and its spider-like form collapsed onto the street.

* * *

It was pretty amazing, all in all, the radical shifts that the life of an EVA pilot could take at times. One day, crawling through ventilation shafts like some kind of movie spy and then fighting a giant monster with the use of giant robots. Then, no more than twenty-four hours later, doing something as mundane as looking over one's collection of SDAT tapes.

"Rock and roll again?" Shinji sighed.

**Hey, I like it,** Birdy said. **And it wouldn't be fair if we just listened to your music all the time. I'm not exactly a fan of classical, you know.**

"I know," Shinji said, remembering exactly how his tape collection had been recently expanded, "but does it have to be rock and roll again?"

**Either that or J-Pop,** Birdy replied sweetly.

Shinji immediately put the classic rock tape into his SDAT player and hit play. The Third Child kept the volume fairly low, however, which was about as loud as he could stand. Indeed, if he wasn't making a (probably useless) attempt to save his energy because of the late night patrol Birdy had planned, he might have found some housework to do as an excuse not to have to endure Birdy's taste in music.

Birdy hummed or sang along to the songs cheerfully, while Shinji just leaned against the wall of his room and looked even more morose than usual. Then, after several minutes, the tape reached the end and began to rewind.

**Hey, Shinji,** Birdy spoke up while they were waiting for it to finish. **I was wondering, what does Asuka have against Rei? Did something happen between them before I showed up? Asuka seems to genuinely loath her.**

Shinji shrugged. "I don't know. They kind of had a rocky start, and I don't think Asuka ever liked Rei, but I never saw her show so much contempt for her before."

Birdy didn't make a reply, silently mulling over the events of the previous day.

"It's kind of ironic," Shinji said. "All those things Asuka accused Rei of…being the favorite and getting special treatment, I mean. I don't think it's really true. I thought it was for a while, but…"

**But?** Birdy prompted.

"Well, Dr. Akagi asked me to go to her apartment one time to deliver her new NERV ID card to her," Shinji explained. "The place was a complete dump in the middle of the bad part of the city. Honestly, I'm surprised that her apartment building isn't condemned."

Birdy was silent for a moment before speaking. **Shinji,** she finally said in a dangerous tone, **why haven't you told Asuka this by now?**

"Huh?" Shinji asked, genuinely surprised. "I don't want to get in the middle of whatever's going on between them. Besides, I'll probably just make things worse if I try and interfere."

**So you're just going to stand back and let Asuka hate Rei based on a false assumption?** Birdy demanded. **Are you crazy?**

"No, I just—"

**Geeze, even leaving aside whether or not you're morally obligated to step in and do something here, do you have any idea how dumb it is to just leave them mad at each other when they don't have to be?** Birdy demanded. **If their ability to work together in battle is compromised because of this, people could die, including us!**

Shinji didn't say anything, feeling rather like a deer trapped in the headlights.

**Shinji Ikari, you get out there and set Asuka straight!** Birdy commanded.

The Third Child didn't even consider protesting. Instead, he turned his SDAT player off and immediately departed his room, soon finding the Second Child, who was sitting in the kitchen doing homework.

At which point he stopped short, realizing he had no idea how exactly he was supposed to tell the fiery redhead that she'd misjudged Rei entirely.

"What's for dinner, Third?" Asuka asked, before he could say anything.

"I thought we'd order a pizza, with it being just the two of us, since Misato's stuck at NERV overnight and everything," Shinji answered.

Asuka, never one to object to a change from the usual Japanese food, nodded. "All right," she said, already turning her attention back to her work.

Shinji hesitated, still unsure how to broach the topic he wanted to discuss.

**Well? Go on!** Birdy prodded.

"Asuka," Shinji said.

The redhead looked up. "What is it, Third Child?"

"Rei isn't my father's favorite," Shinji blurted. "He really doesn't treat her any better."  
Asuka's eyes narrowed, and Shinji had to squelch the urge to retreat at speed. "How do you know that?" she asked.

"I've…I've been to her apartment," he stammered.

A furrow appeared in Asuka's brow. "Why?"

This was going about as well as he would have expected it to, Shinji mused.

"I had to deliver her new security card to her. Dr. Akagi asked me to," Shinji explained quickly.

"Is this story going anywhere, Third?" Asuka asked.

_Come on, pull it together here,_ Shinji urged himself, knowing he'd be facing consequences from both Birdy and Asuka if he screwed this up.

"Yes," he said. "Rei's apartment is a complete dump in the bad part of the city. If my father really lavished special treatment on her, the first thing he'd do is move her someplace else."

Asuka's eyes narrowed even further. Any more and she'd just be squinting, Shinji thought, even as he tried not to wilt under her intense gaze.

"Where does she live?" Asuka asked.

"Huh?" Shinji blinked.

"Her address, stupid," Asuka growled. "Give me her address."

"…why do you want to know?" Shinji asked, backing up a step.

"Just tell me," Asuka demanded.

Shinji quickly caved and wrote down the address for her, telling himself that if even if he balked, Asuka could probably find the information without too much difficulty anyway. There had to be NERV records she could access without too much difficulty that would tell her where Rei lived.

"See you later, Third," Asuka said, departing once she had the piece of paper with Rei's address on it in hand.

"Oh, I don't think anything good is going to come from whatever she's off to do," Shinji said worriedly once Asuka was gone.

**That's because you're a pessimist,** Birdy said dismissively. **Now, what was this pizza stuff you were talking about? I'm really starting to like Earth cuisine.**

Shinji sighed and plopped down in a nearby chair. "You're going to make us both fat if you don't stop eating so much," he said.

**WHAT DID YOU SAY?!** Birdy shouted.

Shinji let out a little yelp of fear and promptly fell off his chair.

* * *

Asuka walked with long, purposeful strides through the streets of Tokyo-3, determined to see the truth of the First Child's living conditions for herself. Determined to prove that she was right and Shinji was full of it.

_But what if he's not?_ A tiny voice whispered from the back of her mind.

Asuka shook her head. He had to be. If he wasn't lying completely in an attempt to get her to like Ayanami, then he was probably exaggerating.

Maybe Rei was just a complete slob, and her apartment was as messy as all hell. Shinji, chronic neat freak that he was, might well brand a place in such a state completely unlivable.

Yes, that had to be it, Asuka assured herself.

However, as she drew nearer to Rei's apartment, doubts began to creep in.

She was indeed finding herself walking into the bad part of Tokyo-3, slums left over from when it had still been Hakone, if she recalled what she'd learned about the city correctly. The buildings grew steadily older and more dilapidated, and she began to see obviously homeless people loitering about in the streets.

Finally, when it seemed downright impossible for her to find an area that was any more broken down and depressed, she reached Rei Ayanami's apartment building.

"Mein Gott," Asuka muttered to herself as she looked up at the rickety building, "how the hell can it be safe to live in a place like this?"

Even assuming that the building didn't threaten to fall over every time a strong gust of wind blew against it, Asuka had no doubt that a number of unsavory characters prowled this area at night. If any of them were to happen upon a defenseless teenage girl, well, Asuka didn't even want to consider what would likely transpire.

_She has Section Two to protect her, I'm sure,_ Asuka thought. Then, a moment later, _who the hell am I kidding? That band of idiots couldn't protect a steak at a vegans' convention._

Her assumptions about the First Child rapidly crumbling but not quite shattered yet, Asuka entered the building and began to climb the stairs, heading for Rei's apartment. She couldn't help but notice the broken beer bottles and the used hypodermic needle which sat upon the steps.

Surely, the inside of Rei's apartment couldn't be nearly this bad, Asuka thought stubbornly, not liking the idea that she'd misjudged the First Child so completely.

She came to Rei's door and pressed the doorbell, finding herself unsurprised when it didn't work. The Second Child then knocked firmly.

A moment later, the door swung open, revealing the First Child. Rei's eyes widened in surprise by a few millimeters when she saw Asuka standing before her. "Pilot Soryu," she greeted.

"Hello, Ayanami," Asuka said. "May I come in?"

Rei hesitated for a moment, confused, but she stepped aside and allowed Asuka entry. The Second Child walked inside and looked around, an appalled expression soon appearing on her face.

It was even worse than she had feared. The place was extremely dirty, grimy, and had little in the way of natural light coming in from its scant windows. The walls had apparently never been quite finished; they were covered in naked sheets of drywall, most of which had stains the origins of which Asuka didn't care to guess at smeared upon them. There was little in the way of furniture, and what was present looked ugly and just plain uncomfortable. Soiled bandages, old clothes, and half used prescriptions littered the floor.

It was, in short, the dirtiest and most desolate living space Asuka had ever seen.

_And NERV keeps an _Evangelion pilot_ here?_ Asuka thought, barely able to wrap her mind around the idea that the organization she worked for would quarter one of their most valuable and irreplaceable personnel in such a miserable place.

Shinji had been right; she _had_ been completely wrong about Rei. The realization left a bitter taste in her mouth.

However, the bitterness was preferable to the stab of guilt she felt when she found herself thinking back to not long after she'd arrived in Japan.

* * *

_"You! What the blazes are you __doing__ here?" Shinji demanded as she emerged in the hallway._

_"What are you __still__ doing here, Third Child?" Asuka countered._

_"Still doing here?" Shinji echoed._

_"Mm, you've been dumped for the new model," Asuka said smugly. "Misato will be living with me from now on. That's a much more logical choice in light of my superior abilities…although I'd much rather be living with Kaji!" she added with a dreamy look on her face._

* * *

_Gott,_ Asuka thought, _did Shinji think he'd wind up in a place like this if he had to move out of Misato's apartment?_

"Pilot Soryu?" Rei spoke up, pulling her out of her reverie.

"Why do you live here, Rei?" Asuka blurted out.

Rei blinked, not understanding why Asuka was asking such a thing, or indeed, the question itself. "It is the apartment I was assigned."

"By who?" Asuka demanded.

"Commander Ikari," Rei answered, wondering why Asuka hadn't known as much already.

It seemed obvious to her.

Asuka just closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose, which only made matters worse, because it made her notice the faint yet fetid smell of the place. _Damn it, damn it, damn it…_

The Second Child felt guilty. She did not like feeling guilty. However, so far as Asuka Soryu was concerned, apologizing was always the option of last resort. Therefore, her course of action was clear.

"You deserve a better place to live than this," Asuka proclaimed abruptly. "We're going to have a little chat with the folks in NERV's HR department."

Rei blinked, hesitating while Asuka marched out of the apartment.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" the Second Child demanded when she realized that Rei wasn't following her. "Come on."

Rei gave a mental shrug and fell in step behind Asuka, deciding it would probably be simpler just to go along with her.

* * *

The NERV human resources department was forever mired in office politics, something that wasn't surprising, given the organization it was a part of and its place within it. However, compared to the other parts of NERV, the ones which actually dealt with killing the Angels, the HR department was very dull indeed.

Or at least, it was normally dull. Unfortunately, the Second Child had arrived, demanding that the First Child be moved into a better apartment, making things very exciting indeed.

"Y-You don't understand," stammered Director Takamora, who'd been bearing the force of a full scale verbal assault from the Second Child for nearly an hour now. "I can't just relocate the First—"

"Why the hell not?!" Asuka demanded. "The whole damn city's been emptying out ever since the Angels started appearing. There are vacant apartments _everywhere_. If you don't believe me, just walk down the street of any residential area and count the 'for sale' signs. You'll probably see twenty of them in the first five minutes!"

"I—"

"And don't you dare tell me it's because of the expense," Asuka ranted on. "NERV spends billions just maintaining EVA Unit Zero. Hell, I'll bet the thing's _codpiece_ is worth a year's rent, at least. It makes _no_ sense not to shell out the money to make sure the person needed to make it work has a decent and safe place to live."

"It's not that," Takamora explained desperately. "It's the Commander."

People who screwed around with the First Child in any way were often called up to the Commander's office (better known as The Lair to the rank and file NERV personnel). Almost always, they came out with pink slips. Sometimes, according to rumor, they came out in body bags.

"If the Commander has a problem with the First Child being moved out of the filthy hole she's in now, he can take it up with me," Asuka replied.

_Oh sure, easy for you to say,_ Takamora thought. _They can't fire or kill you._

"You're not actually going to fight to keep the First Child in that place, are you? It probably doesn't have hot water!" she exclaimed, then turned to Ayanami. "Does it?"

"The hot water works…sometimes," Rei said softly.

"Sometimes," Asuka spat, turning back to Takamora. "An Evangelion pilot, tasked with defending all of mankind, only has hot running water _sometimes._"

"I can't just relocate the First Child because you tell me to!" Takamora exclaimed, barely managing to keep his composure.

He braced himself for another storm of anger from the German pilot, but it didn't come. Instead, she regarded him with a very, very dangerous smile. Takamora barely held back a shiver.

"Yes, you can," Asuka said firmly but calmly. "And if you don't, I'll have no choice but to inform Captain Katsuragi about the First Child's situation, and tell her how uncooperative _you_ were in helping me rectify it."

Takamora paled. It might be rumored that Ikari killed people who interfered with the First Child, but it was a well known _fact_ that the Operations Director got people who pissed her off too much transferred to Maintenance Team Thirteen, better known around HQ as the Unluckies, and for damn good reason.

Once in a while, a great while, Captain Chiron, the Chief of Section Two, would have the people Katsuragi had banished to Team Thirteen transferred to his own group. He did it just to spite the woman, with whom he shared a legendary hatred of one another.

However, Takamora knew damn well that he wasn't Section Two material, not even by the notoriously incompetent group's standards. He was an office worker, not a bodyguard.

"We'll find a new place for her by the end of the week," Takamora said.

"And you'll move her into a hotel room until you get her this new apartment," Asuka added. "And the new apartment you get her had better meet my standards, or I'll be back."

Takamora nodded meekly.

"Good," Asuka said, much of her rage dissipating instantly. "I'm glad we got that sorted out. Please, have a NERV car sent to take Pilot Ayanami back to her apartment for her things and then to the hotel."

"Of course," Takamora agreed at once.

"Thank you," Asuka said cheerfully, then turned to Rei. "Come on, First, let's blow this popsicle stand."

Rei nodded and fell in step behind Asuka, and the two were soon striding down one of the many long corridors of NERV headquarters.

The First Child would have been lying if she claimed to understand the Second's recent actions. Asuka's reasons for declaring her apartment unsatisfactory and then subsequently unleashing her wrath upon the hapless director of human resources at NERV were a complete mystery to Rei. Indeed, the pilot of Unit Zero didn't even know how or why Asuka had originally shown up at her apartment, for that matter.

Yet the First Child couldn't help but feel…something as a result.

_Gratitude? Yes, I believe so,_ Rei mused.

True, she might not understand the Second Child's reasons for her actions, but the fact remained that no one had ever before fought on her behalf with so much…ferocity.

"Pilot Soryu," Rei spoke up, just before their paths diverged. "A…Arigato."

Asuka gave her a small smile. "You can call me Asuka, Rei."

* * *

"I can't believe you were able to eat that much," Shinji groaned, clutching his stomach.

The Third Child sat before the kitchen table, upon which sat slightly more than a quarter of a large pizza and an empty bowl that had, mere minutes ago, contained a rather large amount of rocky road ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate syrup on top.

**I was hungry, all right?** Birdy grumbled defensively.

Shinji just shook his head and tried, unsuccessfully, to make his roiling stomach calm down by sheer force of will. When Birdy had asked, quite innocently, if she could eat their dinner instead of him, Shinji had foolishly agreed, and in what had seemed like the blink of an eye, the Altarian had consumed an enormous amount of food.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Shinji grumbled.

**I didn't think eating that much would do this to you,** Birdy said apologetically. **I thought all teenage boys were supposed to be bottomless pits.**

"I'm not exactly the average teenage boy," Shinji said. "I'm sure _Toji_ could've handled that much food, but I can't."

**Good point,** Birdy conceded. **Why don't you go poking through the medicine cabinet? I'm sure Misato must have something for nausea, with how much she drinks.**

"That's actually—"

The door to the apartment suddenly slid open and Asuka entered, causing Shinji to stop speaking in mid sentence.

"Hello, Asuka," Shinji greeted. "Sorry I didn't wait for you to come back before eating dinner, but you were gone longer than I expected. If you want…"

He trailed off when he noticed that Asuka was glaring at him rather intensely. "Asuka?" he said nervously.

"How could you let her live like that, baka?" the Second Child demanded, with a lack of her usual volume but no less vehemence than normal.

"What?"

"Rei," Asuka clarified. "You knew that Rei lived in a damned hell hole, and you didn't do a damned thing about it!"

"What was I supposed to do?" Shinji asked defensively. "Nobody at NERV ever listens to me."

Asuka released a disgusted sigh. "Mein _Gott_, you're such a damned wimp, Third."

With that, the Second Child snatched the box containing the remainder of the pizza and stomped off toward her room. She opened the door, and was about to walk in when she suddenly hesitated and turned back to Shinji.

"Do you want your old room back?" Asuka asked.

Shinji blinked. "Huh?"

"Your old room," Asuka snapped, pointing to the area where she herself now slept. "Do you want it back?"

As the Second Child was obviously still angry with him, Shinji didn't trust this offer for a second. "No," he said instantly. "Really, having the smaller room is no big deal for me. Besides, you have more stuff than I do, so you need the space."

Asuka nodded curtly and then disappeared into her room, shutting the door behind herself.

Shinji sighed, his indigestion now quite forgotten. Moving almost mechanically, the Third Child got up and began to work on washing the few dishes he'd dirtied while eating dinner.

"Birdy," he said softly after he'd gotten the water running, "am I really that much of a wimp?"

The Altarian hesitated for a moment before answering. **Sometimes,** she said reluctantly.

"Oh," Shinji said, his shoulder slumping.

**You're crazy brave sometimes, too, though. And I do mean crazy,** she added the last bit under her breath. **But…**

"But?" Shinji prompted.

**There was this human saying I heard once, before I ran into you. It was something like 'all that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.' You're a good guy, Shinji, but you sit back and just let things happen too much,** Birdy said.

Shinji didn't reply, mulling over Birdy's words as he dried and then put away the dishes. Once he was done, he silently made his way back to his room.

"It'll be a few hours before Asuka goes to bed and we can head off on your patrol," Shinji said. "Mind if I listen to my music until then?"

* * *

Many hours later found Birdy leaping from rooftop to rooftop in what was now the First Child's former neighborhood, her eyes peeled for any sign of Arcezoids.

"How are you doing, Shinji?" Birdy asked.

The Third Child was being extremely quiet this evening, especially compared to his almost constant pleas for them to return to the apartment so he could go to bed from last time. For all Birdy knew, he could still be feeling depressed or simply on the verge of falling asleep.

**I'm fine,** Shinji answered. **Have you spotted something suspicious?**

"Not yet," Birdy replied. "I'm starting to think that I might have guessed their pattern wrong, or that there just isn't a pattern to when they dump the bodies at all."

**It's possible, but it isn't quite as late as it was last time we found the Arcezoids,** Shinji pointed out.

"True," Birdy agreed. "Still, even if…hey, look!"

Walking on the street below them were a pair of Arcezoids in their human disguises, again transporting a body that was wrapped in a rolled up carpet.

**Wow, Revi and her goons are being **_**really**_** sloppy,** Shinji said.

"Tell me about it," Birdy said as she began to follow them. "It must not be Revi herself who's overseeing this. She'd never be this careless."

**Well, I guess this is the break you've been looking for,** Shinji said.

"Here's hoping so," Birdy agreed.

For about forty-five minutes, the Altarian shadowed the Arcezoids as stealthily as she was able. The pair of robots ditched the bodies, then made their way to an old, abandoned warehouse in the middle of the city's depressed area.

**Doesn't look much like a super villain's lair,** Shinji said as he and Birdy watched the Arcezoids enter.

"Looks can be deceiving," Birdy said.

**True,** Shinji agreed, remembering Geega.

Avoiding the front door in a rare act of caution, the Federation officer instead crept inside through a window. Within the neglected structure they saw rows upon rows of steel drums, along with various pieces of old heavy machinery, all of which were collecting dust and cobwebs. There was no sign of the Arcezoids, or of anyone else that didn't belong there at all.

_Damn, I hate this spy crap,_ Birdy mentally groaned as she crept about the metal drums, searching for her quarry.

**It doesn't seem like there's anything here,** Shinji said.

"There's something here," Birdy replied in a whispered. "Those tin heads didn't come in here because there's nothing here."

Obviously, she thought, Revi's headquarters wasn't on the top floor of this place. There had to be a basement. The trick was finding it, and hopefully without alerting whatever guards were stationed on the ground floor.

"You can come out now, Federation officer!" a male voice suddenly blared from roughly the center of the place. Strangely, the voice seemed to be coming in stereo. "I know you're here."

_Damn!_ Birdy thought, realizing that this was probably a trap she'd walked into.

Her every instinct urged her to emerge from her hiding spot and confront her enemy head on, and if she were still alone in her own body, she probably would have done so. However, the knowledge that if she died, Shinji died with her kept her in her hiding place. If she went around, perhaps she could get the drop on whoever was there.

Suddenly, dozens of the steel drums within the warehouse moved, pushed aside by an invisible force. Birdy found herself abruptly exposed, facing a trio of figures that stood in a large empty space located in the middle of the warehouse floor.

Shinji released a small squeak of surprise.

_Well, there goes that plan,_ Birdy thought ruefully as she stood up straight.

Of the three figures that stood before her, two were the Arcezoids she'd followed in, which had shed their disguises. Standing in between them was a humanoid being clad only in gray slacks. It had green scales covering its body, long arms like those of a Neanderthal, and long white hair that framed a vaguely reptilian face.

"Ah, there you are!" the man's voice was broadcasted from both Arcezoids. "I hope you're as good as they say. I need to give my creation a proper test!"

With that, blue tongues of electricity suddenly arced off both the robots, followed by thin trails of dark smoke. The two Arcezoids then collapsed to the ground, dead.

"Self destruct," Birdy muttered to herself, before turning her attention to the scaly individual. "Listen, you obviously possess psionic abilities. I'm sure you're from a planet far away from here. Why don't we—"

She was cut off as a pair of steel drums were lifted off the ground by invisible hands and then went careening straight for her. The Altarian nimbly leapt out of their path, and the barrels landed harmlessly on the concrete floor. There they split open, allowing a yellowish liquid to pour out, a cloud of gas soon rising up from the chemicals.

The reptilian creature waved a hand and growled low in its throat, and suddenly the cloud of gas moved, the toxic vapors swirling around the Federation officer.

Birdy immediately tried to escape, but the cloud of yellow fumes just followed her whenever she went, regardless of how quickly she moved. Within seconds, the Altarian's head had begun to swim, and she felt herself growing dizzy.

She realized suddenly that she was on her knees. She didn't remember falling, but she was down all the same.

**Birdy! You have to get up!** Shinji urged frantically. **We're gonna die otherwise!**

She nodded, then, resisting the impulse to take a deep breath, forced herself back to her feet, despite the way her vision was swimming. With a roar, she charged forward at her opponent.

Her psionic foe must have believed that she'd keel over before she ever touched him, because it reacted far too late, not attempting to dodge her attack until the last possible moment. Her fist slammed into its abdomen, sending it flying backwards into another cluster of barrels, many of which were toppled like bowling pins from the high speed impact.

The gas cloud that had enveloped Birdy rapidly dissipated now that her enemy's telekinetic hold on it was broken, and the Federation officer took several, frantic breaths, feeling relieved when her head began to clear.

Unfortunately, the green creature wasn't done yet. It quickly got to his feet and used his psi-powers to crack open several of the barrels that surrounded it, sending brown liquid spilling onto the floor.

"More gas?" Birdy wondered.

**No, I don't think so,** Shinji replied.

Then, the Third Child took a closer look at the metal drums that their enemy was ripping open and gasped in horror.

The word "flammable" was written in large, black kanji upon the faded warning labels.

**Birdy, we have to get out of here!** Shinji exclaimed. **He's going to blow this whole place sky high!**

Birdy cursed and leaped as high and as quickly as she could, heading for the nearest window, heedless of the fact that it was closed and the glass was actually intact.

Her foe must've seen her trying to escape, because he suddenly sent the sharp edge of one of the barrel's lids sliding across the concrete floor, the resulting friction soon causing a spark.

A massive fireball instantly bloomed within the old warehouse, the force of the blast reaching Birdy in less than a second. Shinji screamed as it propelled them forward at a far greater speed than they'd already been going. Birdy crashed into the window she'd been aiming for, the glass shattering into a thousand pieces as she flew through it. The Altarian soared a good five hundred yards away from the exploding warehouse, falling very ungracefully to the sidewalk across the street from it.

**Woah,** Shinji breathed as Birdy got to her feet and turned to look at the warehouse, or rather, its remains.

The roof had been completely blown off, and all four of the walls had fallen. All that remained was a pile of burning debris.

Suddenly, impossibly, much of the burning rubble burst outwards, flying into the air, revealing the reptilian creature. It stood in the center of the little clearing it had made, not a scratch to be found anywhere on its body.

**How did he **_**survive**_** that explosion?** Shinji asked, shocked.

"He must have used his psi-powers to shield him from the blast," Birdy deduced, cracking her knuckles. "This is no ordinary criminal we're dealing with here."

She charged forward, deciding that she had to take this guy down _now_.

A ruined forklift flew out of the rubble, and crashed into the Altarian like a battering ram, sending her flying backwards. It landed atop her when she finally fell to the ground.

The scaled creature smiled.

Then the forklift began to move. The creature's yellow eyes widened as it rose into the air, revealing the Altarian, who held it high above her head.

With a grunt of effort, Birdy hurled the piece of equipment at her shocked foe. It crashed into the reptilian creature like an oncoming freight train, the force of the blow shattering bones and causing organs to rupture.

"Damn," Birdy panted, walking over to it.

**What is it?** Shinji asked as they looked down upon their fallen foe.

"I don't know," Birdy said. "It….it smells like a human."

**That thing is not human,** Shinji practically scoffed.

Birdy could only shrug in reply. "It smells like one."

**Whatever it is, it's still breathing,** Shinji pointed out. **You should probably—**

The green man abruptly let out a loud howl, cutting Shinji off. Incredibly, its body seemed to begin healing itself right before their eyes, crushed limbs regaining their shape as bones and muscles knitted back together, oozing wounds sealing themselves up in seconds.

Birdy quickly got into a battle stance as the thing lurched to its feet. However, there was no need for her to do so.

Whatever transformation the creature was enduring didn't cease when its wounds were repaired. Instead, the creature began to grow, parts of its body swelling grotesquely. Any symmetry it had had was soon lost; its right arm grew nearly a foot while the left remained roughly the same size. The muscles in his left shoulder expanded until they literally looked ready to explode while the other side grew at a far more modest pace.

"Please," the creature groaned miserably, "help me…"

Before Birdy could do anything, however, the creature let out a piercing scream, and its body rapidly began to shrink. The scales that covered it began to fade, changing into skin, and the features of its face began to shift.

A completely normal looking human man collapsed to the ground at Birdy's feet, dead.

**I don't believe it,** Shinji said. **He was human.**

Birdy was about to reply, but she soon heard the unmistakable sound of an approaching helicopter. She looked up and saw it just as it neared the ruins of the old warehouse.

It was flying just too high for her to reach it by jumping, she noted as one of the doors opened, revealing a human man in dark clothing.

"Well done, Federation officer!" he shouted down over the noise of the spinning rotors.

Birdy and Shinji both immediately recognized his voice as the same one that had come from the Arcezoids earlier.

"I suppose I should thank you," Hikawa continued. "I gained a great deal of useful data from this encounter."

"You're human, too!" Birdy yelled. "Why would you do this to members of your own species."

Hikawa laughed. "I feel I should warn you that I have no further use for you," he said, ignoring her question. "So if you continue to try and interfere, I'll terminate you without hesitation when next we meet. Sayonara."

With that, Hikawa shut the door, and the helicopter flew off into the night.

* * *

A few days later found the mad scientist performing a far more mundane task, namely picking someone up from Tokyo-2 International Airport. Of course, while the task itself might have been ordinary, Hikawa didn't approach it with anything resembling boredom.

Showing disinterest to the interstellar crime boss who was helping him further his research simply wouldn't do at all.

He didn't have any difficulty spotting her, despite her fairly unremarkable appearance. Christella Revi stood out due to the sheer force of her presence, and the simple, rectangular sunglasses and dark hair that was cut in such a way as to suggest she was some kind of cyber punk, not an uncommon style in Japan, could do nothing to change.

"Miss Revi," Hikawa greeted politely. "I hope you enjoyed your stay in Seattle."

He then turned and gave a small bow to Revi's companion, a girl who appeared to be about twelve years of age with large brown eyes and short, black hair. She looked up and gave Hikawa a small smile that was so empty, it would have made Rei Ayanami at her most blank seem positively expressive in comparison.

"Hello, Doctor," Revi replied, as he took her bag and they began to make their way out of the airport terminal. "How goes the project?"

"Quite well," he answered. "My most recent test showed very promising results. There are still some problems to work out—"

"Then fix them," Revi cut him off, her voice quiet but as hard as steel. "I have no time for failures, Hikawa, and little patience."

Hikawa couldn't help but swallow. "Of course, Miss Revi."

* * *

Author's Notes: Whew, another chapter down. I hope nobody minded the Angel battle too much. Zoro50 brought up the point that reading events that happened in the anime and go unchanged isn't the best of entertainment. He's right of course, but it feels kind of sloppy to me to just cut several of the scenes out entirely, since a lot of events will flow from them. I tried to abbreviate it, but I could only cut it down so far.

Now, on the issue of Asuka and Rei, I'll admit that Asuka's reaction to finding out about Rei's apartment was the best case scenario. I have little doubt that things between them would have gone better than they did in canon if Shinji had just opened his damn mouth and dispelled Asuka misconceptions, but would they have gone this well? I'm not sure, but I like to think so.

Animefan29, I really don't know why people in Eva use cassette tapes, and it's admittedly not something I've ever bothered thinking about too much. Popular fan theories include Second Impact retarding the advance of technology, and Shinji just hanging onto the SDAT because it has sentimental value to him, while everyone else actually uses CDs.

Orionpax09, I hope you don't mind the reference to Rebirth. It seemed too good an opportunity to pass up.

As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omake

Unnecessary extra crossover

Hikawa smiled as he gazed down at his monitor, its eerie greenish glow serving as the only light source in the room.

Would this at last be the night he perfected it? The night that he at last completed his magnum opus?

He thought so. Of course, he _always_ thought so, but somehow this didn't serve to diminish his expectations by one iota.

The picture on his monitor displayed a very attractive young woman with purple hair and soft brown eyes currently filled with terror. She was strapped into a chair with thick leather restraints. Plastic tubes without number were connected to her all over his upper body, and each of the tubes led to a glass vial that contained a clear liquid.

Hikawa turned a dial, and suddenly the liquid within the glass vials began to bubble frantically as the clear liquid was rapidly fed into the woman's veins. She screamed, and then she began to change.

Her skin began to turn green and then her muscles started to grow at an impossible rate. Her screams of agony became deeper, more guttural, more…primitive.

Hikawa frowned. This wasn't right.

With her exploding strength, the woman tore through her restraints like they were made of paper, then began to trash the lab, screamed with fury.

Hikawa swallowed, trying to remember where exactly the room his test subject was inside was located in relation to his little control room.

The question was answered for him when one of the walls exploded, and the muscle bound green woman strode in.

"SHE-HULK SMASH!" she roared.

"Mommy, help me!" Hikawa whimpered just before she went to work.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Five: **Realizations**

"I still can't believe I fell for that," Birdy muttered to herself as she rode on a bus bound for Tokyo-3's commercial district. "It was such an obvious trap in hindsight."

A few of the other people on the bus gave the young woman who was speaking to herself, but Birdy didn't care.

**It's been almost a month, Birdy,** Shinji said. **Just let it go. It's not like you could afford to turn down a lead like that.**

"I will if you'll stop kicking yourself for not doing anything about Rei's living conditions," Birdy responded.

**Uh, all right,** Shinji replied.

Birdy nodded, suddenly cheering up. "So, since I have no current leads, I guess I might as well enjoy myself on my 'patrol' today."

Shinji sighed quietly and tried to roll his eyes. Recently, it seemed as if nearly all of his free time went to the Federation officer's "day patrols." His already meager social life was dwindling to almost nothing as a result.

Still, it was rather difficult to complain; on average, they still spent more than 23 hours of every day being "him."

**Just remember that we have to be back at the apartment by five for Misato's promotion party,** Shinji said.

"Don't worry, I won't forget," Birdy reassured him.

**And please, **_**try**_** not to spend too much of my money today,** Shinji begged.

"Oh, here's my stop!" Birdy proclaimed cheerfully as the bus pulled up in front of one of the largest shopping centers in Tokyo-3.

Shinji sighed again as she got off the bus. **I'm probably going to regret saying this, but since you're here and intent on burning through my money anyway, why don't you at least buy some clothing for yourself? Asuka's been complaining to me because of all the wrinkles you're getting into her clothes. She thinks I'm not ironing them.**

"But I like Asuka's clothes," Birdy pouted, "besides, aren't you afraid someone will find my wardrobe if I get one?"

**Who's going to find your clothes? Misato and Asuka never go through my closet, and I'm the one who does all the laundry,** Shinji said. **And like I told you before, Asuka's clothes are too small for you.**

"Well, we'll see," Birdy said.

_Translation: no,_ Shinji thought sourly.

For the next two hours, Birdy cheerfully flitted from store to store, soon leaving the mall and doing some window shopping in the busy streets outside.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked as she spotted a cluster of people crowded around some kind of outdoor stand.

Shinji studied the signs that were nearby for a moment. **Some kind of wine tasting thing,** he said. **Nothing that would…Birdy, what are you doing?**

Birdy didn't deign to answer because it was perfectly obvious what she was doing. She was getting herself a cup of the wine that was being given out at the stand.

**Stop that!** Shinji exclaimed, even as she took her first sip. **Y-You're underage, and if you get us drunk—**

"Relax, Shinji, I'm not going to get drunk," Birdy said, then took another sip. "Wow, this is really good!"

Shinji groaned.

Birdy took a few more sips of her free wine before either she or Shinji noticed anything off. Eventually, the Altarian stopped and looked around when the sudden silence, so out of place in this bustling commercial area, finally reached her notice.

**Birdy, what's going on?** Shinji asked, speaking in a whisper for some reason even he couldn't have explained.

"I don't know," Birdy whispered back, looking around.

Everyone in the immediate vicinity, they noticed, was standing completely still, and wearing totally blank looks on their faces. Also, everyone nearby was holding one of the paper cups that the stand was giving away free wine in.

Suddenly, there was a deep, ominous creaking sound from far above them. Birdy looked upwards, and her eyes widened as she saw a billboard and its metal support structure that was situated atop a nearby building starting to fall.

Seconds later, the thing broke off the building entirely and started falling down to the earth. Birdy's eyes immediately traced the thing's likely path…and found a man sitting at the end of it, looking as out of it as everyone else nearby was.

The Federation officer immediately sprang into action, sprinting toward the hapless individual at top speed. Shinji gasped sharply, realizing that even with Birdy's amazing speed, this was going to be a close one. He didn't protest, however.

Birdy reached out with one arm as the man came into reach. The falling billboard seemed to be _right_ above them, at least from Shinji's perspective.

The Altarian grabbed the man around the waist, holding him with one arm, and dashed away just in time to avoid the billboard. Birdy was coated with dust that billowed out from the point of the impact.

"Whew," Birdy breathed as she carefully set the man she'd rescued down. "That was close."

Shinji groaned.

Birdy frowned. "What's wrong?"

**If I can't get all this dirt out of Asuka's clothes, she's going to kill me,** Shinji said. **Even worse, she might start thinking that I'm wearing them.**

"You know…you kind of are," Birdy pointed out.

If Shinji had been able to at the moment, he would have face faulted. **Not helping…**

* * *

In a building several blocks away, Revi, Hikawa and Gomez stood near a large window, looking out at the carnage that the scientist's serum had wrought.

"As you can see, the amount of serum necessary to provoke significant results has been drastically reduced," Hikawa said. "As has the time needed for it to take effect. The level of psionic power conferred to the subjects has also been slightly increased."

Gomez gave a grunt of disapproval. "But what do you plan to do about your recent batch of test subjects, Doctor?" he asked. "Allowing them to run loose could cause significant problems."

"Don't worry. I've already distributed enough anti-serum to ensure they'll all be back to normal soon," Hikawa said smugly. "This experience will soon be like a dream to them."

"Very impressive," Revi said. "You may begin mass producing the serum at once, Doctor."

"Thank you, Miss Revi," Hikawa nodded and then promptly departed, eager to begin making the necessary arrangements.

"You don't approve, do you, Gomez?" Revi asked once he was gone.

"No, Revi-sama," Gomez answered. "He's still too far from truly perfecting the serum, and he doesn't strike me as the most reliable man to begin with. I feel that we're moving too fast."

"I don't require that his formula be perfect," Revi replied calmly. "What he's achieved is enough."

Ever loyal, Gomez just nodded. "Yes, Revi-sama."

* * *

About an hour later found Birdy seated atop a ledge where she had a good view of the area where the billboard had fallen. Emergency service vehicles were now clustered around the area and had already cordoned off the area around the fallen sign.

Mercifully, the people who had all suddenly spaced out had all come back to their senses, one by one, starting a few minutes after the near disaster.

**What a terrible accident,** Shinji mused.

"This was no accident," Birdy said darkly.

**Huh?**

"That sign was brought down by psionic power, I'm sure of it," she said. "This was just another one of that guy's experiments."

Shinji was silent for a moment, rapidly putting the pieces together in his mind. **So the wine…?**

"Why do you think I went and grabbed a second cup?" Birdy asked, holding up the item in question.

She then removed the clip from her hair and pointed it at the cup. Like Geega, it was surrounded by a sphere of black energy and then went flying off into the sky, quickly disappearing from view.

"Hopefully they'll be able to analyze in the Federation," Birdy said.

**Uh, Birdy, you drank some of that. Do think that we're going to be affected, too?** Shinji asked worriedly.

Birdy shook her head. "I don't think so. Remember, I'm Altarian, not human. My system's a lot more resilient to this sort of thing," she said. "Still, if you're that freaked out by this, we can go back to the ship and I'll do a medical scan to make sure we're okay."

**Well, if we have time before the…** Shinji gasped, all concerns about suddenly mutating and gaining uncontrollable psi-powers disappearing from his mind. **The party! The party must've started a long time ago!**

Birdy winced. "Oh, that's bad."

**I'll say!**

"Well, don't worry, Shinji," Birdy said, brightening as an idea occurred to her. "We're going to make sure that she won't be able to be angry at you for missing it."

**What do you mean? How?** Shinji asked.

"Trust me," Birdy said with a grin.

* * *

Some time later, Shinji Ikari crept back into the Katsuragi apartment, feeling rather like someone sneaking back in well after curfew or something. There was no one in the kitchen, just the remains of the take out food that had gone with the now finished celebration. The Third Child noted with annoyance that only a very minimal effort had been made to clean up after the festivities.

"Hello, Shinji."

Shinji jumped and then whirled around, coming face-to-face with his guardian. Misato gave her ward a disapproving but not angry look, which somehow made it even worse.

"Oh, h-hello, Misato," Shinji stammered.

"You know, Shinji-kun, I understand that you're not exactly a party loving type of guy," she said, cracking open a can of beer she was carrying. "but you didn't have to disappear for the whole day. Toji and Kensuke missed you today, and I was starting to worry."

And, she added silently, she had found his absence surprisingly painful, despite not having wanted the party in the first place.

Shinji swallowed and suddenly found that he couldn't speak.

Birdy sighed in exasperation. **Repeat after me…**

"It's not like that at all, Misato," Shinji said.

One of Misato's eyebrows went up. "Then what is it like, Shinji-kun?"

"I wanted to get you something in honor of your promotion," Shinji said. "I guess time just got away from me while I was looking."

"You got me a present?" Misato asked, surprised.

Shinji nodded a withdrew a small, velvet box from his pocket. Wordlessly he handed it to his guardian, who quickly opened it.

Misato gasped, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of the emerald necklace and diamond earrings. "Shinji-kun, these must have cost a fortune!" she breathed.

_Oh, they did,_ he thought ruefully.

Birdy didn't move to supply him with a line, so he instead he made use of something the Altarian had said to him a while ago. "I normally just let my NERV salary pile up in my bank account. What's the fun in that?"

Misato smiled radiantly at him, her brown eyes shining. Then, before he could react, she grabbed his collar and pulled him into a kiss that must've lasted a good twenty seconds at least.

"Arigato, Shinji-kun," she said once she'd released the shocked Third Child.

Shinji tried to make a reply but found that he'd momentarily lost the ability to say words.

"You know," Misato mused, looking down at her new emerald necklace, "Kaji always said that green wasn't my color, but I always thought he was wrong about that."

With that said, she head off toward her bedroom, leaving Shinji Ikari standing in the middle of the room, feeling very dazed, to say the least.

Eventually, he somehow managed to navigate to his room, stumbling like a drunk man the entire way. It wasn't until he had managed to safely plop down on his bed that Birdy spoke up again.

**Glad I suggested you get her that?** She asked.

Shinji just nodded in reply, and Birdy laughed. **I bet you would've bought her jewelry a long time ago if you knew that would happen! More effective than diving into a volcano, eh? **

"Okay, that's enough," Shinji said flatly.

**Still, I have to say I'm surprised she actually locked lips with a kid half her age, **Birdy continued, ignoring him.

"So, I've been thinking about the case," Shinji said, bringing up the one thing he knew would get Birdy off her present course.

**And?** She asked.

"Do you really think that some kind of drug is all it takes to make a human change like that guy we ran into in the warehouse?" Shinji asked.

**Well, yeah. What else did you think would be doing it?** Birdy asked.

Shinji had pictured all kinds of energy beams and other sci-fi devices, but he wasn't about to confess as much to Birdy, so he just shrugged. "I was thinking, they need to be getting the chemicals for these drugs somewhere around here, unless they're importing them from another planet or something."

**There's no way Revi and her goons are doing that,** Birdy said. **My ship's sensors would have picked up the deliveries a long time ago.**

Shinji nodded. "So, I figure that they're probably buying what they need from a chemical company, probably one in the city, in fact. I was thinking that if we check to see who the local chemical companies are selling their products to, and notice that there's somebody unusual on the list of buyers…"

**Then that might lead us to Revi!** Birdy finished. **You're brilliant, Shinji! How do we find out who the chemical manufacturers in Tokyo-3 are selling to?**

"Uh, I was thinking that you could use your ship's computer to hack into the companies' databases," Shinji said.

**What? Shinji, my ship's computer can't interface with Earth computers! They're two **_**completely**_** different systems,** Birdy said. The Altarian had a sinking feeling that this new plan was about to go up in smoke. **Isn't there some other way to get at the information.**

"Well…" Shinji frowned slightly as he considered. "I do have access to the MAGI, and if what Dr. Akagi told me is true, then just about everything in the Tokyo-3 area is connected to it."

**Great! **Birdy cheered.

"Hang on," Shinji said. "I only have low level access to the MAGI. It won't let me go rooting through private businesses' files. There would be at least some hacking involved, and I'm terrible with computers."

Birdy resisted the urge to make Shinji slap himself. **Stop dangling these hopes in front of me and then crushing them,** she said. **Do you know of anyone who does have the necessary computer skills?**

"Hmm, I'm sure the computer techs at NERV could pull it off, but none of them would ever do this for me, and I'd probably get into trouble for asking," Shinji pondered aloud.

**Okay, can you think of anyone else?** Birdy asked.

"_Maybe_ Kensuke could do it," Shinji said after a moment. "Still, I don't think even he would do this, or at least, he wouldn't do it for nothing. It would be pretty risky."

**Can't you just pay him for the job?** Birdy asked.

"I could, except that between Misato's present and your shopping sprees, I'm broke right now," Shinji said pointedly.

Birdy chuckled sheepishly. **Well, can't you offer him something else?**

"Like what?" Shinji asked. "I don't have anything he wants, except an EVA Unit, and I can't exactly give him Unit One."

Birdy was silent for a moment, then said. **Hey, I think I have an idea…**

Shinji listened as the Altarian explained her strategy, his face going pale with horror as she did so. "No," he said once she'd finished. "No. No way. Forget it. We are _not_ doing that. I am putting my foot down for once, Birdy. No. Just _no_."

* * *

"Hey, Kensuke," Shinji said, meeting the otaku on the sidelines of basketball during phys ed class, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Of course you can, Shinji," Kensuke replied cheerfully. "By the way, you missed a really great party last night! Misato was looking really hot, as usual."

For a moment, Shinji was half tempted to tell Kensuke about how Misato had reacted to his gift the previous night. Then the moment passed, and he remembered why he'd wanted to see Kensuke to begin with.

"Uh, yeah, I'm sure she was," he said. "Anyway, Ken, I was just wondering how your little photo business is going."

Kensuke sighed, suddenly depressed. "Not very well," he said. "A while after I started it up, a lot of other guys from the school photography club starting taking their own pictures of Asuka and competing with me. Also, by now, pretty much everyone who wants a picture of her has one already."

Shinji nodded. So far, it looked like Birdy's plan was going to work.

_Damn,_ he thought.

"Kensuke," Shinji said, holding back a grimace, "What if I told you I could get another cute girl to model for you? You think that would bring back your business?"

Kensuke frowned in confusion. Shinji couldn't even turn his status as an EVA pilot into success with the ladies, and yet he was claiming that he could get one to model in a photo session?

"Who?" the otaku asked suspiciously.

"An old friend of mine from my old home town owes me a huge favor and she's in the city," Shinji explained. "Her name's Shion Arata. I think you bumped into her once. She dyes her hair pink and white."

Kensuke's eyes widened. "Her? But you said that you didn't know her when me and Toji asked you about her!"

Shinji sheepishly turned away. "I kinda lied so you guys wouldn't be pestering me to introduce you all the time."

Fortunately, Kensuke didn't seem to mind the deception very much, his mind already racing. He doubted that he could turn pictures of Shinji's friend into the goldmine that the photos of Asuka had been; there had been so much demand for those because Asuka actually went to their school and lots of the guys were infatuated with her.

Still, the young woman in question was definitely hot enough that there was some money to be made, and having her actually model for him…

"What's the catch?" Kensuke asked suspiciously.

Shinji winced slightly. "I need you to do some hacking for me, no questions asked," he said.

The bespectacled youth frowned. "Not into NERV's systems, right?" he asked. "There's no way I could ever hack into the MAGI."

"No," Shinji shook his head. "That's not what I want at all."

Kensuke bit his lower lip, considering. Shinji's request sounded pretty shady, but this was still _Shinji_ he was talking to; Kensuke didn't exactly think he needed to worry about getting involved in a drug cartel or something if he accepted.

And that girl was really hot…

"Will she model in a bikini?" Kensuke asked.

Shinji winced. "Yes," he said after a second.

"It's a deal, then!" Kensuke exclaimed.

_Damn it,_ Shinji thought.

"Okay," the Third Child said, forcing himself to smile. "So, when—"

He was cut off by the ringing of his cell phone. Shinji quickly removed the small item from his pocket and looked at the caller ID screen. He knew immediately that NERV had detected another Angel.

_Well, _he thought,_ maybe if I'm lucky I won't live through this one and this photo shoot will never happen._

* * *

About an hour later, Shinji found himself remembering why one should always be careful about what one wished for.

"The Tenth Angel is currently in orbit, and is nearing Tokyo-3," Misato briefed the pilots. "For the last several hours, it's been dropping parts of its mass to Earth, figuring out how to aim itself. The MAGI estimate that it's going to launch a kamikaze attack on the city in the near future."

"How big is it?" Asuka asked at once.

"It out masses an EVA by several orders of magnitude," Misato answered.

"Mein Gott," Asuka said softly, quickly doing some rough estimates in her head. "So what's the plan?"

"I've already ordered the evacuation of the city," Misato said. "There's going to be some collateral damage no matter how well this goes. I want you three to intercept the Angel before it hits the ground and take out its core. That way, there will be no AT field impact, just the standard one that results from something very big hitting the ground."

"Intercept it?" Asuka echoed before Misato's plan became clear. "You want us to try and catch the Angel with our hands?!"

"That's right," Misato said.

"What if the EVA's can't stand the impact?" Asuka demanded.

"Then we'll be in trouble," Misato answered, perhaps a bit too cheerfully.

"What if we can't figure out where it's going to fall?" Shinji asked.

"Then we'll be in trouble," Misato repeated.

"What are the odds of this succeeding?" Asuka asked.

"I have no idea," Misato said, smiling. "Not very good, I'd guess."

**She's insane,** Birdy whispered.

Asuka apparently agreed. "If we pull this one off it'll be a miracle," the Second Child grumbled.

Misato frowned. "Miracles aren't something that just happen," she said sternly. "They're something that we make happen."

Heavy silence hung in the air for several seconds before Misato spoke up again. "I won't order you to do this mission," she said. "You can refuse if you wish."

**Back out of this,** Birdy hissed. **It's a damn suicide mission!**

Shinji remained as silent as the other two pilots, much to Birdy's displeasure.

"I see," Misato said. "In that case, regulations state you should have a will written up. Have you done this already?"

"I don't need to write a will," Asuka scoffed. "I'm not going to die out there."

"There's no point in my writing a will," Rei said softly.

"I'm not going to write one, either," Shinji said.

Misato nodded, obviously not about to enforce that particular regulation. "In that case, I want you to suit up and report to the cages in two hours," she then brightened and added, "and after the battle's over, I'll treat you all to a steak dinner."

**She's **_**got**_** to be kidding,** Birdy groaned.

* * *

The Altarian was ominously silent while Shinji walked toward the changing room reserved for male EVA pilots, and the Third Child knew it was only a matter of time before the storm that was brewing inside his brain broke.

Birdy disapproved of a lot of _Misato's_ practices, especially the way she was apparently fine with Shinji doing the bulk of the housework around the apartment (and indeed, probably dumped more of her own chores on him than Asuka did), but these feelings were pretty mild. However, ever since the battle at Mount Asuma, the Altarian had had nothing but contempt for _Major Katsuragi_.

So he wasn't surprised when Birdy spoke up the moment he was within the safety of his locker room.

**I can't believe you agreed to this mission! Don't you realize how insane it is?** She demanded at once.

"Misato obviously thinks we can do it," Shinji pointed out, fairly confident that there were no surveillance devices within the locker room.

**Yeah, because her judgment is so great when it comes to these things,** Birdy fumed. **Asuka would have died back at the volcano because of Misato's orders if you hadn't been there to bail her out. This time, there's nobody in reserve to bail out you three.**

"Well, I can't back out now," Shinji said, fervently hoping Birdy would calm down soon. "I already passed up the chance she offered us."

**Oh yes, that. That was brilliant. I bet it'll help her sleep at night if it gets her child soldiers killed,** Birdy said scornfully.

"Huh?"

**She knew none of you would refuse to do this. Asuka's practically missing the "flight" part of the fight or flight response, Rei is Rei, and you could never bring yourself to abandon the two of them. I'll bet she never would have given all of you the option of refusing this mission if she thought for one second that you would,** Birdy said. **Offering you an out was just a way of shifting the responsibility for taking the insane risk onto the three of you so she'll feel better about it.**

Shinji frowned. "That's not fair," he protested. "You've seen her command less than two whole battles."

**I saw her almost get Asuka killed by taking a stupid chance, and now she's doing it again,** Birdy retorted. **What else do I have to see?**

Shinji just shook his head and pressed the button on his plug suit's wrist, causing it to contour itself around his thin frame. "Look, I'm doing this," he said, "and the only way you can stop me is by body snatching me."

He didn't need to point out how poorly an attempt to force him out of NERV headquarters against his will was liable to go.

Wondering what Misato had done to inspire this kind of loyalty, Birdy released a frustrated sigh. **Just do one thing for me before we set out on this insane mission, okay?**

"What?" Shinji asked.

* * *

Misato had just escaped the woman's lavatory and her best friend, who was being rather unfriendly at the moment. Much as she didn't want to, the Operations Director couldn't help but wonder if she would have made a different decision if she didn't have such personal reasons to hate the Angels.

Whenever she really examined the question, though, it ultimately seemed rather moot. After all, she doubted that she'd be commanding these battles at all if it wasn't for her own personal experiences during Second Impact. Besides, she did truly believe that the Children could win.

"Misato."

She started slightly as she was pulled from her thoughts and turned to see Shinji standing the hallway.

She forced a smile. "Hi, Shinji-kun," she said. "Shouldn't you be heading to the cages by now?"

"There's still time," he said quietly. "Misato…I need to ask you something."

"Shoot," she said.

"Why do you do this?" Shinji asked. "Command the EVA's, I mean? The job just seems…" he trailed off, unable to find a word that fit.

Misato definitely got his meaning, however. Her pay wasn't all that good, her hours were often long and erratic, and she had to bear a mountain of responsibility. It was a small wonder that he didn't understand why she did it.

_He deserves to know,_ she decided.

So, she told him. She told him about her dysfunctional relationship with her father, and she told him about Second Impact, about how that terrible event had exposed her father's bravery and love for her and then taken him away immediately after. How she had nearly died in the escape pod he'd managed to get her into, and how for years afterward, she'd simply existed, not truly alive. How she felt compelled to avenge her father, even though, after all these years, she didn't know quite what to feel for him.

"Sometimes…sometimes I love my father so much, that I hate the Angels with every fiber of my being," Misato said. "Other times, I remember how he was always ignoring his family, and how often it made my mother cry. Then I just want to kill the Angels so I can be free of his memory. But I _always_ want to kill the Angels, so I guess that's why I do this job. I hope that answered your question, Shinji."

"I did, Misato. Thank you," Shinji said.

"You should head down to the cages, then," Misato said. "I know I should be getting to the command center."

He nodded. "All right."

"I'll see you later, Shinji-kun," she said, and the two parted ways.

Shinji waited until he was sure she was out of earshot and whispered, "So?"

**Well, at least I know why she gives such crazy orders now,** Birdy said, her voice now devoid of its previous fury.

The Third Child arched an eyebrow. After the argument in the locker room, he'd expected Birdy to explode again. Instead, she sounded surprisingly…sympathetic.

Then it hit him. It was so obvious he couldn't believe he hadn't realized it sooner. "You lost somebody because of Revi, didn't you?" he asked. "That's why you're after her."

_Violeen,_ Birdy thought sadly.

**Yes,** she said.

"I guess you're not so different from her, then," Shinji said.

**I don't know about that. I'm not sure I could ever send children to fight my battles for me,** Birdy said.

"She doesn't have much choice," Shinji pointed out. "I'm sure she would do it if she could."

**Yeah,** **but still… **The Altarian paused, searching for the right words. **I know I don't have a whole lot of room to criticize her, considering that every time I go out looking for Revi, you're in as much danger as I am. But I've been more careful than usual, believe it or not. I wouldn't have been kicking myself for walking into that trap if it was just me doing it. I've walked into traps before and didn't care later—hell, I'm notorious for running in swinging my fists without thinking everything through. Some people call me Birdy the Berserker! But I don't think I could ever send kids into such dangerous battles with as much…gusto as Misato does. I don't like it, and not just because I have to go along for the ride with you.**

Shinji just nodded. He suspected that this was probably about as good as it was going to get with Birdy on the subject of Misato, at least for the foreseeable future. However, he thought that would be okay. While Birdy might still be against Misato's decisions, it was obvious that the Altarian couldn't bring herself to loath the Ops Director for them any longer.

* * *

The Third Child arrived at the cages just a few minutes later, finding Asuka and Rei already there and waiting for him.

"What kept you, Third?" Asuka asked.

"There was something I needed to do," Shinji answered simply as he stepped into the elevator that would take them to their EVA Units.

No further words were spoken as the elevator doors closed and took the three Children up toward the entry plugs of their waiting giants. They parted ways once it reached its destination, each heading for their respective EVA.

Just before Shinji got inside, Birdy spoke up one last time. **Don't screw this up.**

Shinji almost laughed at this less than insightful piece of advice, but he soon sobered. "I won't," he said instead.

_I have to kill the Angel and live through this,_ he thought. _For Birdy's sake, and Misato's, too._

Soon, the three Children were inside their Evangelions, and the Evangelions themselves were positioned outside. Then the really difficult part started, namely a twenty minute wait that felt roughly ten times longer than it actually was. When Misato declared that the operation was commencing, Shinji was actually relieved.

"Let's move out!" Shinji shouted determinedly.

* * *

A couple of hours found the miraculously triumphant trio of pilots and their commanding officer enjoying a victory dinner of ramen noodles at an open air stand. Asuka had turned down the promised steak dinner to both spare Misato bank account and allow Rei to be included.

Birdy had been rather disappointed by this development; since the battle had ended and their continued survival had been assured, at least for a while, she'd been looking forward to the steak, even though she wouldn't be able to eat it herself.

Most of the meal was consumed in amicable silence. When they were nearly done, Rei quietly excused herself and headed for a nearby public restroom.

Once she was out of sight, Shinji leaned over toward Asuka and whispered, "Do you know what's with that dress?"

After the battle was over and the Children were able to change back out of their plug suits, Rei had donned an utterly hideous, neon green dress. Even Shinji had taken notice of how terrible it was, and the Third Child knew quite well that if even _he_ realized it, it must really be bad.

Asuka winced slightly. "I told her she deserved a bigger wardrobe when I realized she didn't have any clothes besides her school uniforms. She apparently went out and bought _that_," she said. "I think I'm going to have to take her shopping and give her a crash course in fashion. She'll just embarrass herself otherwise."

Secretly, Asuka was bizarrely comforted by Rei's awful taste in clothing. The First Child's initial attempts at fashion sort of made Asuka think of a toddler insisting she could dress herself and then botching the job entirely. It was very human, and thus not at all doll-like, which actually made her feel more comfortable around Rei.

_Better you help Rei with her clothes than me,_ Shinji thought. _I'd probably just make matters worse._

He finished the last of his noodles and then excused himself as well, heading to the men's room.

**You're awfully cheerful,** Birdy commented, sounding rather happy herself.

Shinji looked about, making sure he was alone in the bathroom before he answered her. "My father praised me," he smiled, looking at his reflection in the large mirror by the sinks.

**Eh? That's why you're so happy?** Birdy asked, surprised. She'd thought he might have been proud of himself for reaching the Angel first, or because of how things were going unusually well with the often dysfunctional group of pilots.

"Well, yeah," Shinji said, splashing a little cold water onto his face.

**Shinji…** Birdy hesitated, briefly pondering whether this was any of her business, before she plowed forward. **I'd be careful if I were you. The guy treats you like you're just an employee of his most of the time. Just because he says "good job" doesn't mean he plans to start acting fatherly all of a sudden.**

The Third Child just made a noncommittal noise in response. Birdy, realizing she wasn't going to get through to him on this subject, sighed quietly and changed the subject.

**Anyway, Shinji, I finally remembered where I've seen things like the EVA's before. Actually getting a good look an Angel jogged my memory,** Birdy said.

Shinji blinked. "You did? How do you know of them?"

**It's kind of a long story,** Birdy said. **I'll explain later. But I'll tell you one thing: I think the situation is a lot more serious than I'd originally believed.**

Shinji grimaced at this ominous statement, suddenly not feeling nearly as buoyant as he had a moment ago.

* * *

The next day found Shinji walking into a certain junkyard, a moderately sized paper bag in his hands and no sign of Section Two anywhere. The Third Child glanced nervously about for a few seconds, then climbed into an old red car.

Almost immediately, the airlock on the side of Birdy's ship opened up, and Shinji was sucked in. The Third Child released a cry as he was again flung onto the floor inside.

"How do you live with this entry system?" he grumbled as he picked himself and his bag up off the floor.

**I can get in a little more gracefully than you,** Birdy answered, amused.

"Then next time, we're being you when we have to come here. I don't even know why it's always me," Shinji grumbled, finding a place on the floor to set the bag down, while shying away from the container he knew held his nearly dead body the whole time.

"Fair enough," Birdy said as she switched places with him.

**So, why are we here, anyway?** Shinji asked. Birdy checked in with the Federation regularly, and for that they had to venture to her ship, but it wasn't time for that yet.

Before Birdy could offer him an answer, there was a flash of light from the holographic "tank" and the likeness of Inspector Megius appeared within it.

"Sir," Birdy said, straightening up.

"Greetings, Birdy," Megius said. "We received the sample you sent us as well as your most recent report. I'm afraid to say that it is as you feared. That drink contained a serum which induces massive mutations and incredibly fast cell regeneration. As an Altarian, you possess some natural immunity to this drug. However, humans would be extremely sensitive to this drug."

"Sir," Birdy said, "as bad as that is, I believe things are a lot worse. I have reason to believe that all the components necessary for creating a Ryunka exist on this planet," Birdy said.

Megius, normally unflappable, actually recoiled at this news, the hologram of him blurring for a few seconds before becoming clear and sharp again. "How is that possible?" he demanded.

"The Untouchables exist on this world, sir," Birdy said. "The humans are at war with them. I can't believe that this and Revi's presence here is a coincidence. In light of this, I am requesting that you send additional officers to assist in apprehending Revi."

Had Inspector Megius been human, the look of surprise on his face would have been plain. He knew Birdy must be taking this new threat very seriously indeed for her to make such a request and run the risk of someone else taking down Revi.

"I'm afraid I must deny your request," Megius replied.

Birdy blinked in surprise. "Why?"

"There are negotiations underway on Altaria right now between the Federation and the Union," Megius explained. "Hopefully, the status of the disputed border worlds will finally be agreed upon. Unfortunately, there are factions within the Union who want war to erupt and are trying to sabotage the summit. The terrorist King Zero nearly succeeded in sending a satellite crashing down into the Union embassy only three days ago. I can't spare any officers to help you. You must apprehend Revi by yourself."

"I understand," Birdy said.

"Good," Megius said. "One more thing. How is young Shinji doing?"

"Just fine, sir!" Birdy answered, perhaps a bit too earnestly. "His daily life hasn't been uninterrupted at all."

**How can you say that with a straight face?** Shinji asked, causing Birdy to wince.

Fortunately, Megius didn't seem to notice. "I'm glad to hear that," he said. "Megius out."

The hologram faded out of existence.

**What are the Untouchables?** Shinji asked at once. **The Angels? And what's this Ryunka think that you're so afraid of?**

Birdy sighed and went over to her computer, turning it on. It booted up with remarkable speed. "Yes, the Angels are some of what are known as the Untouchables across galactic civilization," she answered, browsing through history files.

**So what are they then?** Shinji asked curiously.

"Nobody knows for sure," Birdy said. "All people really know for sure is that they occupy about half of the planets in known space that are naturally capable of supporting life. And that if you wind up on one of those planets somehow, you're probably as good as dead."

**Oh,** Shinji said.

"Yeah," Birdy agreed. "There are theories about some kind of First Ancestral Race seeding the galaxy with life, both the Untouchables and our kind of life, but nobody's ever been able to prove it. Ah, here it is," she added, opening up a certain file.

A blurry image of a massive shape orbiting a red world popped up.

**It looks just like the Tenth Angel!** He said.

"Yeah," Birdy nodded. "Not a lot of pictures have been taken of the Untouchables, but there's one more I think you'll find interesting."

She opened another file, and a picture of a giant made seemingly of golden light appeared on the computer screen. Only its eyes and the sphere in its torso were dark.

Shinji gasped. **What is that?**

"Another one of the Untouchables," Birdy answered. "In fact, it's the kind that spawns others. One of their 'queens' if you want to think of it that way."

**B-But it looks like…**

"An EVA," Birdy finished. "I know. Apparently, NERV figured out some way of copying the Untouchables in order to fight them."

Shinji was silent for a long moment. **What's a Ryunka?** He finally spoke up again. **You seem pretty worried about it.**

"Ryunka's a very old word that means 'shapeless death,'" Birdy said grimly. "Long ago, a crazed maniac somehow obtained a weapon that could hurt the Untouchables, and he used it to force two of them into a dormant state. He brought them to a populated world and combined them somehow."

**And what happened?** Shinji asked, even though he already had a pretty good guess.

"Every living thing on that world died," Birdy answered, "replaced by Untouchables. It used to be a blue planet, but it turned red. Most people think from the blood of everyone who died."

**My god…** Shinji breathed. **And you think Revi's going to try and catch a couple of Angels to recreate what happened there?**

"It's a definite possibility," Birdy said, as she shut down her computer. "I'm sure she sees endless possibilities when she considers what she could do with a super weapon like the Ryunka."

**We have to stop her!** Shinji exclaimed.

"No argument here. Unfortunately, we have to find her first," she grinned suddenly. "Which means that we have an appointment to keep."

Shinji just groaned as Birdy went over to the paper bag he'd brought and pulled out Asuka's red and white striped bikini.

* * *

"Oh, yeah, that's it, Shion!" Kensuke crowed enthusiastically, his camera clicking wildly. "Work the camera!"

Birdy was only too happy to comply, switching from pose to pose and smiling or pouting at the camera as requested.

They were in a makeshift studio in Kensuke's basement. The otaku had clearly prepared for the photo shoot; he'd brought down several lights and arranged them in strategic locations, and he'd even hung a blanket on the wall so the backdrop of his pictures would be better than the old bricks that made up said wall.

Ironically enough, the blanket had a picture of star field and two generic, sci-fi spaceships upon it.

Kensuke's camera ceased its wild clicking, but the boy immediately removed the film and put in a fresh roll with practiced ease. "All right, that's it!" he said, clearly enjoying himself far too much.

**That must be the tenth roll so far,** Shinji grumbled. **How long does he plan on keeping you here?**

Birdy didn't reply. Instead, the Altarian blew a kiss at Kensuke's camera, much to his delight.

Toji, who had been watching raptly since the photo shoot began, finally broke his silence. "So, Shion, what did Shinji _do_ for you that you're willing to do this for him?"

His eyes never wandered from Birdy's modest assets, which were practically overflowing from Asuka's too small top, as he asked this question.

**No wonder Asuka always calls them perverts. They are!** Shinji exclaimed.

"I can't really tell you the specifics. All I can say is that he did me a _big_ favor. One I _really_ needed done," she said, her tone rather suggestive.

Toji and Kensuke's minds both immediately plunged into the gutter, Shinji could see it in their eyes.

**And you're **_**not**_** helping,** the Third Child hissed, already trying to come up with a believable but not at all lascivious story to explain why "Shion" was so deeply in his debt, knowing his friends would asking about it soon.

Finally, after several more minutes and three more rolls of film, Kensuke declared himself done.

"I know you only did this because you were returning a favor," the otaku said, "but thanks all the same. You were a great model! My only problem is that the people at school might not believe that I took these shots instead of getting them off the internet or something."

Birdy grinned. "Well, why don't we get a little photographic evidence that you were the photographer?"

**Birdy! **Shinji growled.

Kensuke frowned for a moment, then his eyes widened and he grinned madly as he got the idea. "Excuse me for a moment!" he practically shouted, and then sprinted off.

He returned before Toji could even inquire as to where he'd gone, carrying a tripod for his camera which he quickly set up and then carefully positioned.

Toji had figured out what the plan was by now. "Can I get in on this, too?" he asked.

"Of course!" Birdy said cheerfully.

Toji stepped forward, and Birdy wrapped an arm around his shoulders, actually getting a slight blush from the jock. Kensuke set his camera and then rushed forward. Birdy threw her other arm around him, and he faced the camera just before it went off.

"There," Birdy said. "Nobody will accuse you of not taking those pictures yourself now."

"Arigato!" Kensuke exclaimed.

"You're welcome," Birdy said, starting to get dressed (in Asuka's clothes, of course). "Now, I think Shinji said he'd be along around this time, so you should expect him, okay?"

"Sure thing," Kensuke said. "Here, let me show you out."

He escorted Birdy out of the house and reluctantly bid her goodbye. The Altarian headed for the Katsuragi apartment.

**We're not letting them find out about how we're stuck together. Ever,** Shinji said flatly. **No matter **_**what**_** happens.**

Birdy just laughed. Soon they were back at the apartment, finding it mercifully empty. Shinji couldn't help but wonder when his luck in this regard would run out, but he knew that this was no time to worry about it. They quickly replaced Asuka's clothes, then Shinji grabbed his laptop and they headed out for Kensuke's house again, this time as the Third Child.

He rang the bell when he arrived and was unsurprised when Kensuke answered it with an obscenely huge grin on his face. "Hi, Shinji!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Hi, Kensuke," Shinji said. "So I guess Shion was here already?"

"Yeah, she was great! I got a ton of fantastic photos!" Kensuke said, barely able to contain his jubilation.

"Good," Shinji said, "then I guess my part of the deal's been fulfilled."

Kensuke nodded, immediately getting Shinji's not so subtle hint. Silently wondering why his friend seemed a little cranky today, he invited Shinji inside.

"So, what do you need from Master Hacker Kensuke Aida today?" he asked.

Shinji held up his laptop. "I want you to use my MAGI connection to hack into the networks of all the major chemical manufacturing companies in the city and look for any unusual customers," he said. "Anybody that wouldn't seem to have a use for the chemicals or has started buying way more than usual within the last couple of months or so."

Kensuke frowned. "Why would you want to know that?" he asked. Then, before Shinji could stammer out a reply, added, "Never mind. No questions, I remember."

Shinji nodded gratefully as Kensuke turned his laptop on. "So, is Toji around?" the Third Child asked.

"Nah, he split right after Shion left," Kensuke replied as he got to work.

Silence followed. "So…" Shinji said awkwardly, "how long do you think this'll take?"

"Dunno," Kensuke answered absently.

Shinji held back a sigh, suspecting that this would take a long time.

He wasn't disappointed. "Master Hacker Kensuke Aida" was at his task for well over two hours.

However, Birdy's complaints of boredom almost made the wait worth it.

"Okay, I'm done," Kensuke proclaimed at last.

The bespectacled boy sounded somewhat worried, however, and Shinji suddenly suspected that he'd learned what it felt like to be ogled by a pair of sex obsessed teenage boys for nothing.

"What did you find?" he asked.

"Well, there is one place that started ordering way more chemicals than ever before, and different chemicals than they usually buy at that," Kensuke said. "They only started about a week ago, too."

Shinji's spirits lifted. "Well, where is this place?"

"Matsushiro," Kensuke answered. "It's the NERV auxiliary base."

* * *

Author's Notes: Dun dun dun!

A little light on action here, I'll admit, but a couple of revelations. I'm sure that the Ryunka in Decode is nothing like the one here, but when I saw that world going from blue to red and all the people on it simply falling apart, my first thought was that it looked a lot like Third Impact, except without the giant Rei.

As for Birdy's rather extreme views of Misato, well, she showed up at a pretty bad time so far as forming a good opinion of the ops director was concerned. And it seemed too easy for Birdy to find out Misato's motivations and go straight from passionate disapproval to being totally understanding of her and being okay with how she fights the war sometimes.

And I skipped the actual battle against the Tenth Angel, since it happened the same way it did in canon. And really, in canon, all that happened is that Shinji caught it, then Asuka and Rei got there and stabbed it. Everything else is just trying to make it more dramatic. I hope nobody minds.

Animefan, Birdy tends to be pretty impulsive, and she _really_ wants to catch Revi, so I could actually see her walking into that trap.

Masked Man, sure that was the original source of Asuka's dislike of Rei, but the animosity was helped along by Asuka's false assumptions. I think if these were proven wrong early on, before Asuka had truly started to loathe Rei, it definitely would have improved the relationship. Maybe not that much, but I admitted it was the best case scenario.

As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers.

Oh, and no omakes today, sorry. I'll try and write extra ones next chapter. Man, maybe it's because I'm trying to be funny in the story itself whenever I can, but writing omakes for this one has been hard. My Superwomen of Eva story was just an endless wellspring of omake gold for some reason, and with Altered Destinies I could always fall back on horny, mini-Gendo Shinji. With this one I just keep drawing a blank. Oh well.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Six: **Obstacles**

**This is a really **_**bad**_** idea,** Shinji said as Birdy walked along the streets of Tokyo-3, wearing a brown wig that allowed her to blend in with everyone else. One of the shifts at NERV had just ended, and they were near the main Geofront access point, which meant that the sidewalks were choked with people leaving work for the day.

"You always say that," Birdy replied in a whisper.

**I do not, but when I do I'm usually right,** Shinji grumbled.

"It's either this or we use _your_ access card to get us into the Matsushiro base," Birdy countered. "Think that's a good idea?"

**No,** Shinji replied. **But I really don't think going to the Matsushiro base at all is a good idea. My father wouldn't shelter a bunch of alien criminals. The recent orders they've made for chemicals are probably a coincidence; NERV uses all kind of chemicals, after all. Besides, doing this will be really risky.**

Birdy wasn't nearly so confident that Gendo was above conspiring with Revi if it furthered his aims, but she knew that telling Shinji so would only lead to a pointless argument.

"It's the only lead I have right now," she said instead.

**But why does it have to be **_**his**_** access card?** Shinji asked.

"He's high up enough in NERV that we can expect it to get us in where we want to go," Birdy answered. "Plus, I don't like him."

**You don't even know him, **Shinji pointed out. **And neither do I, for that matter.**

"I know him by reputation," Birdy countered. "And that's enough for me not like him."

Shinji sighed. **You know, I'm pretty sure that Misato's not exactly an unbiased source of information when it comes to this guy.**

"Who cares?" Birdy retorted. "If even half the stuff she says about him is true, he deserves this."

Before Shinji could make a reply to this, Birdy spotted her quarry entering a rather seedy looking bar. The sign outside labeled the place as simply "Hiro's" in fading red kanji.

"Perfect," Birdy said, a rather sinister grin appearing on her face as she followed Captain Chiron, the chief of Section Two, inside.

According to Misato, the man was a sexist pig who always ordered his subordinates to take the most brutal course of action without trying anything else first. Of course, the mutual hatred between the Operations Director and the Chief of Section Two was legendary, so it was anybody's guess how much or how little Misato…exaggerated whenever she ranted about the man.

Of course, Shinji himself didn't exactly have warm and fuzzy feelings for Section Two, not since they'd found him in Kensuke's tent and then dragged him back to NERV, but he was still very uncomfortable about this.

Birdy walked into the bar and found Chiron sitting on one of the stools, a mug of beer already in hand and talking to the bartender.

"…purple haired bitch has been strutting around all high and mighty ever since she got promoted," they overheard Chiron saying. "As if the bimbo would have gotten _anywhere_ without shaking her implants at everyone."

The Third Child suddenly felt a good deal more at ease with what Birdy was about to do.

Also, though he was far from an authority on the subject, he was fairly certain that Misato's were real.

"Hey there, big guy," Birdy greeted Chiron as the bartender went to see to other patrons. "Buy me a drink?"

Chiron looked Birdy up and down, a big, oily grin appearing on his face. The woman was wearing clothing that looked at least two sizes too small for her, putting a good deal of her lithe, attractive body on display.

"You old enough to drink, darling?" Chiron asked.

"You really want to bother with little details like that?" Birdy asked with a smirk.

"Guess not," Chiron replied with a chortle. "Hey! A beer for the lady here!"

The bartender produced a bottle of beer, and Shinji found himself not at all surprised to see that it was a Yebisu. Birdy twisted the cap off and took a long gulp of the drink with apparent relish.

**Careful,** Shinji admonished her. **The **_**last**_** thing we need is for you to get drunk here.**

Birdy didn't reply, of course, but she did put the bottle down on the bar.

"I didn't catch your name," Chiron said.

"Shion," Birdy answered. "Shion Arata."

"I'm Chiron," he replied. "Just Chiron."

"So," she purred, glancing into his suit jacket and spotting his weapon, "I like your gun."

The Third Child almost laughed at how corny this line was, but the Section Two chief obviously approved. Chiron gave Birdy a grin that caused Shinji to shudder, or at least, would have, had he had any control of their body.

"Thanks," Chiron said. "It takes a certain talent to deal with high caliber weapons. Of course, some guys have to do it long before they ever touch a firearm." He added, with a slight nod downwards.

This time, Shinji's very soul shuddered in revulsion.

_I will _never_ doubt that Misato's telling the whole truth when she complains about this guy ever again,_ he thought. _This is _so_ much worse than Toji and Kensuke._

For the next hour or so, Birdy (and thus Shinji) were forced to tolerate Chiron's come-ons, which the Altarian had to play along with. Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice that Birdy was nursing her first bottle of beer while he downed several and became gradually more and more inebriated.

Finally, when she judged him drunk enough not to realize her scheme, Birdy deftly reached into his back pocket and withdrew his ID card, unable to believe her luck; she'd thought for sure that she'd need to snatch his whole wallet, which he'd probably notice was missing almost immediately.

Then she pinched his rear. This invoked another surge of disgust in the Third Child, but it had the desired effect of camouflaging Birdy's pilfering; Chiron started, then smirked suggestively at Birdy.

"Excuse me," Birdy said. "I need to go powder my nose."

"Hurry back," Chiron slurred.

The Federation officer quickly retreated to the bar's dirty ladies room. "What a sleaze," she commented the moment the door shut behind her.

**We are **_**not**_** using your feminine wiles in this investigation again,** Shinji proclaimed in what he hoped was a voice that brooked no disagreement.

"Sheesh, are all men so unable to tolerate the behavior they dish out on women?" Birdy asked.

**I don't treat girls like that,** Shinji said defensively.

"Good point," Birdy conceded absently, looking around the bathroom.

She soon spotted what she was searching for: a window large enough for her to make her escape. The Altarian smiled, pleased to see that her good luck was continuing to hold out, and departed from the bar.

"Well, that couldn't have gone better," Birdy said cheerfully as she walked along the sidewalk. "What do you say we head to Matsushiro right now?"

**No deal.** Shinji replied. **There's no way we'll be able to make it to Matsushiro and back without me being missed.**

"But if we wait too long, he'll notice and the card we have will be cancelled," Birdy protested.

**Tomorrow's a Sunday. We can head out first thing in the morning,** Shinji replied. **That should be soon enough. He'll probably be too hung over tomorrow morning to realize that his card's gone. I have a feeling he's only going to be hitting the booze harder when he realizes that you're not coming back.**

"Good point," Birdy conceded. "Tomorrow it is, then! Bright and early!"

**I still think this whole thing's pointless,** Shinji said. **I'll bet there's nothing out of the ordinary happening at the Matsushiro base at all.**

* * *

It had been, Hikawa mused, awfully good of Ikari to allow him to mass produce the serum in the NERV auxiliary base. Of course, the man didn't much of a choice; not if he wanted Revi's small army of Arcezoids to serve as his hidden ace should SEELE come calling, but still, Hikawa was quite pleased.

_Soon,_ he thought, as he looked down at the great vats where his serum was being mixed, _soon the entire world will bear witness to my genius._

It was so wonderful to have someone appreciate his talents and sponsor his work again. Not since the Second World War, when he had worked on Japan's super soldier program, had his own government wanted to see his projects reach fruition. Back in those golden days, he had been secure in the knowledge that his people had been behind him.

Then the Americans had dropped their atomic bombs. The government caved, not realizing that the Yankees' damned bombs would look like firecrackers when compared to the destructive power of an army of the his super soldiers.

If only he'd been given a _little_ more time.

But he had not, and the Empire had been dismantled, most of his data had been destroyed by the Americans. After that, no one wanted his work any longer.

It still disgusted him to think about it, that his people would embrace the same weaknesses that their conquerors had. The advancement of human knowledge always required sacrifices, and that sometimes meant blood! Shying away from those sacrifices was nothing but cowardice.

But Hikawa had been patient. Breakthroughs he'd made in his serum had extended his life and given him the luxury of time. He had developed the serum as best he could on his own, and eventually his patience had been rewarded when Christella Revi had sought him out.

Now, with her help, the entire _galaxy_ would soon know his name.

He could hardly wait.

* * *

Hazumi was having a really good day so far. She had woken up on time for once, which meant that she had actually gotten to her favorite bakery before they'd run out of the donuts she liked. More importantly, it also meant that she'd actually be at the base on time and would _not_ be chewed out by her supervisor.

Not only that, but she thought she had finally figured out what was causing that minor glitch in the base's MAGI system.

_Everything just seems to be going my way today,_ she thought cheerfully. _If this keeps up, I might even get that promotion I've been wanting._

"Excuse me."

Hazumi started slightly, pulled from her pleasant daydream. She turned and saw a young woman carrying a small backpack. She had a similar build and was about the same height as Hazumi and had brown hair and blue eyes.

"Yes?" Hazumi asked.

"Do you know the way to the NERV base here?" the woman asked. "I'm interviewing for a clerical position there."

"Oh yes, it's easy to get there from here," Hazumi said. "Just walk to the end of this street, then take a left. After that, go straight for four blocks, and you'll be right there."

"Thanks a lot," the woman said.

"By the way, you should probably go home and change, if you don't mind my saying so," Hazumi said, taking note of the woman's clothes, which looked a couple of sizes too small for her. "I don't think you should go to the base in that."

"Oh, I don't intend to," the woman said.

Suddenly, before Hazumi could even think about reacting, the woman grabbed her, covering her mouth with one hand, and then wrapping her remaining arm around her, pinning Hazumi's arms to her side. The technician struggled desperately as she was quickly pulled into a nearby alley, but the woman was _impossibly_ strong.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the woman said. "In fact, I'm _really_ sorry about this, but this is the only way I could get the right uniform. And the entire galaxy could suffer if I don't do this."

The woman quickly gagged Hazumi and then rapidly stripped her down to her undergarments. The technician fought the whole time, but all of her attempts to escape were thwarted by her attacker's seemingly inhuman strength and equally good reflexes. Once her assailant had relieved Hazumi of her uniform, she then bound the tech's wrists and ankles and set her down on the ground with surprising gentleness.

Her crazed attacker then tied the ropes around her wrists to a nearby dumpster. After that, she dropped a small, dull knife just out of her reach.

"You'll be able to get yourself free in a few hours, if you're smart about it," the woman said as she changed into the NERV uniform. "If not, well, I plan to give the cops an anonymous call after I'm done, just to be sure. This is a good part of town, you'll be fine."

Then, sending Hazumi's disbelief to new heights, the woman kneeled down and placed a small wad of bills next to her. "That should pay for the uniform. I'd leave you what I was wearing before, but that's not mine, either," the woman said, stuffing her original outfit into her backpack. "I really am sorry about this."

With that, she was gone.

Hazumi sighed and leaned her head back against the brick side of a building.

_What a crappy day _this_ turned out to be…_

* * *

**I really wish that we didn't have to do that,** Shinji fretted as Birdy made her way to the base.

"Me too," Birdy agreed. "But since you refused to break into Maya's locker at NERV—"

**I would have gotten caught for sure!**

"—this was about our only option," Birdy finished. "Misato's clothing is too big for me, after all."

**Even if it wasn't, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to wander around the base in a NERV officer's uniform, anyway,** Shinji agreed, though he clearly still wasn't happy with what they'd done.

Birdy might have made some reply to this, but she was drawing near to the NERV auxiliary base. It was an enormous complex located on the edge of the city. Though, given its sheer size, it might have been more accurate to say that the city was on the edge of the base.

Unlike the base at Tokyo-3, this one was a more traditional, above ground complex consisting of several separate buildings. Fortunately, the way one got in was exactly the same. Birdy simply slid her pilfered ID card through a reader outside, and a pair of armored doors swung open to allow her access.

**This place is huge,** Shinji said. **Even if Revi and her goons **_**are**_** here, we could search all day and not find a trace of them.**

"Relax," Birdy said. "If they're here, they'll be someplace out of the way. There's no need to search the whole base."

Birdy walked around the base for a good half an hour, searching for the type of area where NERV might have hidden a group of aliens and robots. None of the NERV personnel she encountered gave the brunette in the technician's uniform a second look, much to her relief.

**There's nothing here, Birdy,** Shinji said. **Can we go back to Tokyo-3 now? I think that Misato and Asuka might be starting to suspect that I'm not hanging out with Toji and Kensuke every time I disappear.**

"It'll be fine," Birdy replied softly, after checking to make sure there was no one else in the immediate vicinity. "I just need to find a place that screams 'I'm hiding something.'"

Shinji had yet another moment where he would have sweat dropped had he been in control of their shared body at the moment. **Uh, Birdy, wouldn't a place that screams "I'm hiding something" kind of be counter to the point?**

Birdy scowled and waved the question off. "You know what I'm talking about," she said. "I'm talking about…some place like that."

Right before her was a squat, and very small structure that was clearly just the access point to some kind of underground facility. The low hum that factories and other places of industry generated was emanating from the place.

_Why can't we ever find nothing and just go home?_ Shinji wondered tiredly as Birdy swiped Chiron's card through the reader next to the little building's door, which of course opened obediently.

The Altarian soon discovered an elevator inside and stepped inside, punching the button for the deepest floor. Moments later, they came out in a huge subbasement where great vats some kind of liquids were being stirred and pumped from chamber to chamber by enormous machines. An unpleasant, almost antiseptic smell hung in the air.

Birdy walked across a catwalk that was above all the chemicals. "This is the serum that mutates humans," she said. "No doubt about it."

**You can't be sure about that,** Shinji protested. **NERV uses all kinds of chemicals. Unit One is up to its chest in chemicals whenever it's not being used.**

"Fine, then, I'll take a sample and send it back to the Federation just to be sure," Birdy said.

The Altarian then nimbly jumped down from the catwalk to the rim of one of the vats, the one that seemed to be the last in the procession before the chemicals were piped to some other room. Somehow maintaining perfect balance on her narrow perch, Birdy withdrew an empty water bottle from her little backpack and filled it up. After that, she gave it a zap with the gadget she kept in her hair, sending it off to the Federation.

"Now that that's out of the way," Birdy said, jumping back to the catwalk, "it's time for the interesting stuff. Let's go looking—"

"Who are you? What are you doing down here?"

Birdy turned and saw three figures standing on the far side of the catwalk. The one in the center was a large man with dark blond hair and a thin mustache. The two flanking him were shorter and wore trench coats, hats and scarves.

**Arcezoids,** Shinji whispered.

Hoping that they hadn't seen her leaping back onto the catwalk, Birdy smiled nervously and said, "I'm sorry. I just started here last week, and I guess I got a little lost," she said.

"Let me see your ID card," the man said.

Birdy stuck her hands in her pockets and pretended to search. "I…I must have dropped it somewhere," she said, doing an excellent job of appearing sheepish.

Unfortunately for her, Gomez knew that only a select handful of high level NERV personnel had access to this place. No technician who'd been hired a few weeks ago could just wander down by accident.

"Detain her," he ordered the Arcezoids.

"Damn," Birdy muttered as they advanced, "and here I thought I might actually get away with it."

With a loud roar, the Federation officer punched one of the Arcezoids in the torso, her fist penetrating the armor with ease. She grabbed a handful of wires and then held them to the remaining metal man, sending way more voltage into the Arcezoid than it was designed to withstand. Its clothes and fake skin blackened, and smoke began to rise from it. Seconds later, it collapsed to the floor, now good for nothing but scrap metal. Birdy released her hold on the first Arcezoid and it, too, fell down lifelessly.

"Federation officer," Gomez said. "I'm impressed that you found this place. However, I cannot allow you to get any closer to Christella Revi or her activities."

Birdy cracked her knuckles threateningly. "I don't expect you to _allow_ me to do anything, but I still plan on doing them."

Gomez just stared at her impassively.

Birdy scowled and charged forward, intent on subduing this guy quickly and cleanly. Then she could send him to the Federation and get back to snooping around the Matsushiro base. And with any luck, he'd be more willing to talk than Geega.

Only it didn't happen that way. Gomez grabbed Birdy's wrists as she approached and, almost casually hurled her toward the far wall.

However, Birdy was nothing if not nimble, and rather than crashing into the metal wall, she was able to push off of it with her legs, sending herself soaring at Gomez again.

Revi's right hand man let out a small grunt of annoyance. He grabbed her wrist again as she attacked, but this time he didn't throw her away. This time he stopped the Federation officer cold.

He saw her eyes widen in surprise at this display of strength. What he'd done before had been impressive, but redirecting her momentum hadn't required too much in the way of raw power.

Others would have taken pleasure in seeing the shock in her eyes, but Gomez was a professional through and through. He felt naught but some mild satisfaction as he crushed her wrist in his grip, evicting a cry of agony from her.

Then he released his hold on her, and the Federation officer quickly backed up several steps, taking up a defensive stance.

The effect was marred by the limp way her right hand hung, but Gomez couldn't help but be somewhat impressed with the Federation officer. She must have been in considerable pain, but none of it showed on her face.

"That was a warning," Gomez said flatly. "Leave now, and I'll spare you. If you insist on remaining here, or if you ever meddle in Revi-sama's affairs again, I will kill you."

He said this in such a plain, matter-of-fact tone of voice that it almost made Birdy shiver. Instead, she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You're just going to let me go?" she asked.

"Not all of Revi's associates are incapable of showing mercy," Gomez said.

The comment caused Birdy's face to twist into a murderous scowl, and her body tensed as she prepared to launch herself at Gomez a third time.

**Don't do it, Birdy!** Shinji pleaded. **He'll kill you!**

Birdy reluctantly aborted her attack before it began, realizing that Shinji was probably right. If she couldn't take out this guy before she'd been hurt, there was no chance she could beat him now, and she couldn't afford to press her luck any further.

With as much dignity as she could muster, Birdy silently turned and made her way out of the room.

* * *

Hours after her run in with Gomez, Birdy emerged from a regeneration tank inside her spaceship. "Much better," she breathed, moving her hand about on her newly repaired wrist.

**Would you cover up please?** Shinji asked, his blush somehow audible.

Birdy rolled her eyes, but she triggered her modulator, causing her uniform to appear on her body.

"At least today wasn't a total loss," Birdy said. "Now we know for sure that Revi and NERV are working together."

**Hang on, we still don't know that for sure,** Shinji objected. **Revi might have just subverted the Matsushiro branch somehow.**

Birdy sighed. "Oh come on, Shinji, how could Revi possibly set up a whole factory in a NERV base without the approval of the whole organization?"

**NERV is a huge organization. It's perfectly possible that things could be going on in one branch without Central knowing about it,** Shinji protested stubbornly.

Birdy could have pointed out that it was unlikely that NERV Central could be kept ignorant of something like that occurring in a branch that was located so near to Tokyo-3. However, she held her tongue, knowing it would do no good.

_What did Gendo Ikari ever do to deserve this kind of loyalty from his son?_ She wondered in exasperation.

"I think it's time we headed back," Birdy said, changing the subject. "They'll be expecting you soon to cook dinner."

**No argument here.**

* * *

"How could the Federation officer have discovered our operations?" Revi asked.

After allowing Birdy to leave, Gomez had gone straight to contact Revi and let her know that they had been infiltrated. Revi wasn't at all happy, but much like her latest partner, she hid her emotions well. Still, both Gomez and Hikawa, who were presently in her office to discuss this new twist in events, could easily sense her ire.

"Unknown at this time," Gomez said. "However, given how little regard Dr. Hikawa has shown in keeping his experiments a secret—"

"Don't blame this on me," Hikawa scowled. "_You're_ the one in charge of security. Why didn't you apprehend her?"

"When she realized she couldn't defeat me, she jumped into one of the vats and swam through the pipes to another chamber," Gomez said. "By the time I reached the next room, she had disappeared."

"That much exposure to the serum should have transformed even her," Hikawa responded. "I doubt she could have just vanished as her mind and body were mutating."

He didn't outright call Gomez a liar, but it was obviously implied. Unfortunately for him, the big man didn't even flinch.

"I think you underestimate Altarian physiology, Doctor," Gomez replied.

Revi held up a hand, and both men immediately fell silent. She removed her sunglasses, handing them to the young girl who always followed her like a shadow.

"The one who's responsible for this is immaterial," she said. "What we need to do now is to figure out how to deal with this."

"We should relocate our operations to NERV Central," Gomez said. "The Federation officer knows we're in Matsushiro now, and the Tokyo-3 base is much more difficult to infiltrate."

"Relocating will set the project back by weeks, perhaps months," Hikawa objected sharply. "Surely, Gomez is capable of defending Matsushiro from a single Federation officer until we're ready to proceed to the next phase of the plan."

"Enough," Revi said, her voice soft but forceful. "I'm in no particular rush, and since you've waited so long to see your work bear fruit, doctor, you can surely wait a few more months. It's only prudent to relocate."

"Ikari won't like it," Hikawa said, playing his last card, even though he knew it wouldn't work.

"Ikari will have to get over it," Revi said.

"Perhaps this setback will actually prove beneficial," Gomez said. "The delay may allow for further refinement of the serum."

Hikawa's features contorted into a murderous scowl, and he was clearly about to say something. However, Revi beat him to it.

"Enough, Gomez," she said. "Both of you, go make the arrangements to relocate."

Gomez and Hikawa both nodded and turned to leave the room.

"Oh, Gomez," Revi called just before the two were gone, causing both men to stop and turn.

"I won't tolerate something like this again," Revi said calmly.

It was a rather ambiguous warning, but the meaning was still quite clear to everyone involved.

"I understand, Revi-sama," Gomez said, then left the room.

Hikawa just grinned nastily as he followed the larger man out, suddenly feeling sure that no further undue setbacks would plague him.

* * *

To Shinji's great surprise, Birdy had actually sought to venture back to Matsushiro the very day after their disastrous trip there. She felt sure that she could avoid the attentions of the guy who'd caught them before and broken her wrist, and the Altarian insisted that she had to at least try and destroy the factory.

Fortunately for Shinji, he had tests at NERV that day, and both he and Birdy knew it was extremely unlikely that the card Birdy had snatched from Chiron would still be of any use by the end of the day.

Unfortunately for Shinji, it wasn't an ordinary sync test NERV had called the pilots in for. That much was obvious when he was ordered to strip naked and submit to a cleaning process that seemed suspiciously like a car wash.

The doors to the little elevator car like room that he was inside slid open with a hiss, leaving only a pane of frosted glass that didn't reach above his neck or below his knees separating him from a very long, very white hallway that led to the Evangelion dummy bodies.

"I don't see why we have to do this naked!" Asuka snapped testily from a similar room next to his.

"We need the data for this auto-pilot system to be as clear as possible, which means eliminating any interference caused by both clothes and microbes," Ritsuko explained over an intercom. "Just showering and wearing your plug suits aren't enough."

"I won't do it!" Asuka proclaimed. "I won't parade around naked in front of all of you!"

"We do respect your privacy as much as possible," Misato spoke up, also over the intercom. "We're switching off all the cameras."

"Oh, so all I have to worry about is the baka hentai, then," Asuka growled.

Shinji expected to hear some comment from Birdy in response to this situation, but all was silent inside his mind, to his surprise.

As it turned out, the Altarian actually felt sorry for Shinji. The way NERV was forcing the guy and the two girls to do this naked test together spoke volumes about how, when it really came down to it, the agency viewed the pilots as little more than components necessary to make the EVA's work.

Really, it wouldn't have taken too much effort on NERV's part to keep them from having to walk down that long hallway in the nude and in full view of one another. It would have spared them a lot of grief, especially considering Asuka's readiness to respond violently to all act of perversion, either real or imagined.

**Hang in there, Shinji,** Birdy said.

To his surprise, the simple words of encouragement actually made him feel considerably better.

**After all,** Birdy added. **After this, your day can only get better.**

* * *

Not much later, the three Children's plugs sat on the floor of the Geofront. Something had gone terribly wrong during the test, prompting Dr. Akagi to eject their plugs and send them to safety.

"I wonder what the heck happened?" Shinji mused.

**Whatever it is, it must have been pretty important,** Birdy said. **We must've been here for twenty minutes already and not one word from headquarters.**

"It was probably been more like ten minutes," Shinji replied.

**Whatever,** Birdy grumbled. **I'm just saying that whatever's going on, it's big. It would have to be, to make NERV ditch the pilots and then leave them naked in the middle of a forest in the Geofront.**

"I guess," Shinji agreed.

**In fact, I'll bet that whatever's happening right now, the base is in total chaos,** Birdy continued.

Shinji frowned, realizing that Birdy was going somewhere with this but not sure where exactly. "Yeah, I guess."

The Altarian abruptly switched places with him, replacing Shinji before he even had a chance to protest.

"Which means," Birdy said as she pushed a button to open the plug hatch, "that short of another blackout, this is the best possible time to go snooping around headquarters."

**What?!** Shinji squawked as Birdy climbed out of the plug and began to sprint toward the pyramid.

"Revi's _probably_ in some alliance with NERV," Birdy said, hoping to avoid starting _that_ argument again. "So, I want to get into the parts of NERV where she and her people will probably be. No better time it for it than this."

**It's too risky!** Shinji protested. **If you somehow manage to avoid getting caught, then NERV will come to pick us up and find my plug empty.**

"I won't get caught inside the base," Birdy said, "and if they come back before we do and find your plug empty, all you need to do is say that you got impatient and decided to walk to the base."

**Naked.**

"Hey, the fate of your whole world could be at stake here!" Birdy snapped.

**They're not going to believe that I decided to walk to the base naked,** Shinji said.

"What _else_ are they going to believe?" Birdy asked. "Just because you're sharing a body with an alien, doesn't mean that everyone will automatically jump to that conclusion."

Shinji sighed. **Could you at least put some clothes on?**

Birdy activated her modulator, and her Federation uniform appeared on her. "Happy?" she asked.

**No.** Shinji replied.

Birdy ignored him and kept running toward the pyramid. For Shinji the trip probably would have taken an hour, given the distance and how rough the terrain was. For Birdy, the trek took about ten minutes.

"What did I tell you?" Birdy asked as the main entrance to the base came into view. "Absolute chaos."

People were pouring out of the main entrance to the base, and all of them seemed to be heading out of the Geofront. Shinji noticed that most of them were wearing civilian clothes, rather than the tan uniforms of the technical and security staff, meaning that this exodus consisted mostly of the various paper pushers, cleaning staff, and other nonessential personnel. Also, the people hardly seemed to be panicking.

**I think absolute chaos is kind of an overstatement,** Shinji said. **Still, something big is definitely happening.**

"Wish I had that NERV uniform with me," Birdy muttered. "Oh well."

The Altarian, headed down to the group of people and began to fight against the tide, moving toward the entrance to NERV headquarters. A few people looked at her strangely, either because of the direction she was moving in or her choice of clothing, but nobody bothered to stop or saying anything.

"Piece of cake," Birdy muttered once she was inside and away from the press of escaping people.

**Don't get overconfident,** Shinji warned. **We don't know what exactly is going on, so we don't know if security is preoccupied with something or not.**

"Right, right," Birdy agreed quickly. "So, if NERV wanted to hide something, where would it be?"

Shinji sighed, still feeling quite sure that there was nothing related to Revi to find within NERV Central. Like Birdy, however, he had learned when it was futile to argue with the person he was sharing a body with.

**Terminal Dogma,** Shinji answered. **It's the lowest level of the base, and people whisper about it a lot.**

Birdy snorted. "Hiding stuff in the basement. How original," she said sarcastically.

**This whole place is kind of a basement,** Shinji said.

"Good point," Birdy said. "How do I get to this Terminal Dogma?"

**Go down, I guess,** Shinji replied. **I can't tell you more than that. They'd never let **_**me**_** down there.**

Birdy nodded, not having expected much better. "Then it's down we go."

She quickly found the nearest elevator and rode it down to the lowest floor it could reach. Then she tried to find a second elevator to repeat the act, but she soon ran into a pair of thick blast doors blocking off one of the larger hallways.

**The base must be on lockdown,** Shinji said.

"Great," Birdy grumbled, cracking her knuckles. "I guess I have to do this the hard way, then."

**No!** **You'll set off every alarm in the place!** Shinji hissed, quite unaware that the MAGI were in no state to be monitoring base security at the moment.

"Then how are we going to get past this?" Birdy demanded. "I'm not going to pass up this chance because we ran into a wall."

**Use the air ducts,** Shinji said.

Birdy looked up and spotted an air vent. She smiled. "You know, Shinji, for someone as jumpy as you, you're really not bad in a pinch at all. Have I told you that before?"

**Uh, you might have, and thanks, I think,** Shinji said as Birdy jumped up, ripped the grating off the vent, and slipped inside the duct.

"Man, NERV's security is really bad," Birdy commented, as she crawled through the duct, easily getting around the barrier. "Who designed this place?"

**Personally, I always thought this place was fit for a Bond villain,** Shinji replied.

"Bond villain?" Birdy asked.

**Guy from a series of movies,** Shinji answered. **I'll see if I can show you one of them sometime.**

"Sounds good," Birdy said as she departed from the ventilation system, returning to the hallways. "Hey, are you having fun?"

**No,** Shinji answered at once.

Birdy smirked. "You are, aren't you?" she teased.

**I just…always wanted to know what NERV kept down in Terminal Dogma,** Shinji said. **It's kind of satisfying to think that I'll be seeing stuff NERV never wanted to show me.** **It never seemed fair that they made me fight for them but kept so many secrets from me.**

"Can't say I disagree with you there," Birdy said.

She wandered about for a bit longer and soon discovered another elevator. This one, however, was not nearly as cooperative as the first one had been. And judging by the slot for an access card that was situated next to the door, it wasn't being stubborn just because of the lockdown.

**Looks like it needs a card key,** Shinji observed.

"Which means that there's something important down here," Birdy reasoned. "Too bad we don't have Chiron's card with us. If only we'd known this was going to happen…oh well."

She raised her fist to punch the door, then hesitated. "Any ideas on how to get around this obstacle?" she asked.

**Uh, no,** Shinji said.

"Just thought I'd ask," Birdy said as she slammed her fist into the middle of the elevator doors, putting a sizable dent into them.

The doors were partly separated where Birdy had hit them, and she slid her fingers into the gap and pushed the doors open with a mild grunt of effort. To Shinji's relief, no blaring of klaxons or flashing of red lights followed.

The elevator car wasn't at their floor, something Birdy was only too happy about. She grabbed one of the elevator cables with her gloved hands and began to slide downwards.

She slid, and slid, and slid…

"How far down does this place _go_ anyway?" Birdy wondered aloud.

**I don't know,** Shinji said, equally surprised.

Finally, after was seemed like it could have been an hour, Birdy reached the bottom of the shaft, finding the elevator car waiting there. The Altarian opened the small hatch located atop it and climbed down into the car. After that, she simply hit the Door Open button, and she was inside Terminal Dogma.

And right in front of a pair of Arcezoids.

"Woah!" Birdy exclaimed, ducking as one of them threw a savage right hook at her that would have taken off her head if it had connected.

She lashed out with a kick, sweeping the robots' legs out from under them and causing them to crash down to the floor. Before they could get back to their feet, Birdy stood back up and stomped on both their heads with her heeled boots, puncturing both their metal skulls.

"Still think that your father isn't allied with Revi?" Birdy asked as she surveyed her fallen foes.

**Maybe…maybe she's forcing him to help her,** Shinji said. **NERV security could never beat an army of Arcezoids, after all.**

Birdy grit her teeth, feeling the urge to scream at Shinji's constant grasping at straws. "Just don't offer him our help to deal with the problem," she said instead as she took off into the bowels of Terminal Dogma.

_Christella Revi could be down here somewhere,_ she thought, her pulse quickening with excitement. _I might finally be able to get to her. This could be it._

* * *

Not too far away, in a small, windowless room, there was a man.

The man sat in a chair, the room's only piece of furniture. He looked very unhealthy; he had grayish skin and was extremely thin, almost emaciated. A thin, unkempt looking mustache sat upon his upper lip, and he wore very old, battered clothes.

The man looked like some kind of living scarecrow, a movie monster made real.

Appearances could be deceiving, but sometimes truth was only skin deep.

The sound of a phone ringing suddenly filled the little room, and the man pulled out a cell phone and answered it. "Yes?"

"Bachillus, two of the Arcezoids in Terminal Dogma have gone off-line. It could be the Federation officer. I want you to go and investigate."

"Right away," Bachillus said, hanging up.

The man got up from his chair, heading for the door. "Finally," he whispered. "Finally I get to _eat_."

The door to his room opened with the push of a button, and Bachillus found himself facing a pair of NERV security guards. They both eyed the gaunt man with suspicion, wondering (not for the first time) why Commander Ikari had decided to play host to this guy and his little friends.

"You need something, sir?" one of the guards asked.

"Yes," Bachillus grinned. "Food."

The sound of screaming echoed through the halls only moments later.

* * *

"Damn it, this place is _huge_," Birdy cursed. "How many secrets did your dad expect to have to hide?"

Shinji didn't respond, mostly because he didn't have an answer for her. He had never expected that Terminal Dogma would be this big. Birdy had been looking around for over a half an hour now, and aside from the occasional Arcezoid patrol, she hadn't found anything remotely remarkable. They had seen laboratories, rooms crammed full of filing cabinets, and even multiple empty storage rooms.

But they'd seen no signs of either NERV's dirty laundry or Revi herself.

**We're pushing our luck here, Birdy,** Shinji said. **We have no idea how long it'll take NERV to get everything back in order.**

"We can't go yet," Birdy insisted. "I'm never gonna have an opportunity like this again."

"Federation officer!" a deep voice suddenly boomed from nearby.

Birdy immediately got into a defensive stance and looked around wildly, searching for the source of the voice.

"You can't see me, little one?" the voice taunted. "Look up."

Birdy did and spotted some kind of thick, green substance dripping down from one of the vents nearby.

**Eww…**

"Tell me about it," Birdy muttered.

The green goo abruptly fell from its place in the vent and to the floor with a splashing sound. Then, the rough figures of two men rose up from the green puddle, two sets of yellow eyes glowing with demonic light and all of them fixed upon Birdy.

"Federation officer, I will eat your soul!" Bachillus snarled.

Two tendrils shot out from the puddle and wrapped themselves around Birdy's wrists. The monster then began to drag the Altarian toward itself. Birdy dug her heels into the metallic floor, but this only resulted in a shower of sparks as she was dragged forward.

The jaws of the two human shapes in Bachillus opened much further than those any real humans could, displaying seemingly hundreds of needle-like teeth. The spikes of enamel were one of the few parts of Bachillus that weren't made of green slime.

"It's been so long since I've tasted Altarian flesh!" Bachillus said, practically drooling.

"It'll be a little longer yet!" Birdy snarled.

She launched a savage kick at one of its heads, splattering a portion of Bachillus against the wall. The two tentacles it held Birdy with immediately released their grip on her wrists, and she took a few steps back.

"You can't defeat me that easily!" Bachillus shouted as his second head reformed.

This time, four tendrils shot forward, attempting to restrain all of Birdy's limbs. However, now she was ready and dodged them, then took off down the hall away from the pile of green ooze.

"You won't escape me!" Bachillus sneered. "But feel free to try! I love fast food!"

He laughed heartily at his own joke, and the sound of it made Birdy's skin crawl despite herself.

**That thing is definitely the creepiest alien you've fought so far,** Shinji said as she turned a corner.

"And how," Birdy agreed. "Unfortunately, it looks like my power techniques aren't very effective against it."

**So, can we get out of here **_**now**_**?** Shinji asked.

"He'll just follow us back to your plug," Birdy replied. "We have to take him down."

**But how do we do that?** Shinji asked. **Do you know any techniques besides power techniques?**

"No," Birdy answered, then before he could say anything quickly added, "but I do know how to stop him. I've encountered his species before. We need a chemical weapon, one that has both hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties. Now if only we could find one…"

**Birdy!**

"What?" she asked, confused by the eagerness in his voice.

**Switch with me!**

"What?!" she hissed.

**Just do it! I've got this one,** Shinji insisted.

Deciding to take over again at the first sign of trouble, Birdy did as he asked and allowed Shinji to retake control of their mutual body. The boy immediately sprinted to the nearest janitor's closet, silently thanking the fact that dirt and grime would accumulate in even the most secret of facilities.

"Perfect," he said, picking up a large, glass container that contained about a gallon of liquid.

"What are you doing here, little boy?"

Shinji whirled around to see that Bachillus was only a few feet away from him. _Damn it's fast,_ he thought, clutching the bottle tightly.

"Where is the Federation officer?" Bachillus demanded. "Tell me, unless you want to become a snack to whet my appetite!"

Shinji responded without thinking and hurled the bottle at Bachillus with a grunt of effort. It landed on the floor right before the alien and shattered, spraying its contents everywhere, including all over Bachillus.

For one terrifying moment, nothing happened. Shinji felt dread welling up in the pit of his stomach, and he was ready to tell Birdy to take over again.

Then Bachillus' body began to fizz, like baking soda mixed with vinegar. The alien _shrieked_ as he literally dissolved right before Shinji's eyes, shrinking rapidly until only a tiny portion remained.

That tiny portion took off like a shot, still screaming in agony, and disappeared into an air vent that was situated near the floor.

Then there was silence.

**Wow,** Birdy spoke up at last. **I never would have guessed that NERV would keep chemical weapons down here, but I probably should have, now that I think about it.**

Shinji laughed, feeling the tension that had gripped him a moment ago leaving him in a great rush. "That wasn't a chemical weapon, Birdy," he said. "We humans use it to wash floors. I use stuff like that all the time around the apartment."

**Really?** Birdy asked, clearly incredulous.

"Really," Shinji replied with a grin.

He felt almost absurdly proud of himself. It was very good, he decided, to have beaten the bad guy, and to not have done it as the Third Child but simply as himself. Not as the pilot of Unit One, but just Shinji Ikari, a neat freak who (sometimes) paid attention in chemistry class.

Unfortunately, as often occurred when Shinji was feeling good, something bad immediately happened to ruin his mood.

"Artificial intelligence has proposed self-destruction," a calm, flat voice that could only belong to the MAGI came over the loudspeakers. "Self-destruction will commence in thirty seconds if all three MAGI units unanimously approve."

Shinji could _feel_ the blood draining from his face. "Birdy," he said. "I think that _now_ we have to get out of here."

**I can't get us out of here in thirty seconds,** Birdy said. **We just have to hope they turn it off, so we might as well chase after that creep.**

"If they turn it off, it means that whatever's wrong is fixed," Shinji argued. "If whatever's wrong gets fixed, then the base won't be in chaos anymore."

**And if that happens, then they'll come for you pilots and security won't be messed up anymore,** Birdy finished reluctantly, hating the logic but unable to dispute it.

She switched with him, the Third Child again disappearing to make way for the Federation officer. Birdy ran back toward the elevator, unable to keep from feeling like she was fleeing from her last chance at capturing Christella Revi.

* * *

"Come on, Birdy, it's not that bad," Shinji said.

The Third Child was seated in his room, leaning against the wall. Birdy had gotten them back to the plug mere minutes before a group of NERV technicians had arrived to give the Children their plug suits and escort them back to the base.

Explaining what had happened to the pilots wasn't on anybody's list of priorities when they'd gotten back, but he'd gathered that an Angel had attacked the Dummy Bodies and then the MAGI. Dr. Akagi had just managed to make it destroy itself before it destroyed NERV, hence the self-destruct announcement that had sent them running.

**Not that bad?** Birdy asked. **Now we know for sure that NERV is working with Revi. Unless something like this happens again, then all she has to do to stay out of my reach is not leave Terminal Dogma.**

"I'm sure there has to be some way—"

**There's not, **Birdy said miserably. **I can't storm NERV headquarters; the chance of me getting killed—and you getting killed with me—is way too high. Even if I lived through it…if an intruder attacks NERV Central, the first thing they'll do is try and find the EVA pilots to make sure they're okay. You'll be nowhere to be found, of course, and things could easily go to hell for you from there. They might even figure out that we're sharing a body.**

_And nothing good could come from that,_ Shinji thought, shuddering slightly at the very idea.

He felt bad for her; it was only too obvious how much catching Revi meant to her. However, he couldn't quite bring himself to give her leave to take the massive risk of attacking Revi's headquarters head on. He knew that the chance of them being killed would be _very _real.

_It doesn't make me selfish to not be willing to die in someone else's war,_ Shinji told himself, doing his best to believe it.

"We'll come up with something, Birdy," he said, but the words sounded terribly empty, even to him.

**Yeah, I guess,** Birdy said.

Then, to Shinji's very great surprise, Birdy switched places with him.

**What are you doing?** He hissed as she got up and headed for the door.

"Relax," Birdy said. "It's late, no one else is up. I just want to go and get something."

**What?** He asked.

Birdy didn't respond. Instead, the Altarian entered the kitchen, opened the fridge, and pulled out two six-packs of Yebisu. With her pilfered alcohol in hand, she headed back to Shinji's room.

**What are you doing?** Shinji demanded.

"Calm down," Birdy said. "Misato buys beer by the case. She won't notice a couple of missing six-packs. Probably just assume she drank them and then forgot she did it."

**But you'll get drunk!** Shinji protested.

"Just want something to take the edge off tonight," Birdy said softly.

Shinji, full of sympathy for Birdy and not truly aware of how much he'd regret it come morning, couldn't bring himself to argue further as the Altarian cracked the first can.

* * *

Author's Notes: Whee, Birdy's hitting the booze for real now. No more wine tasting or social drinking for her. Good thing for her she's got Shinji to keep her in check. Pity for him, though.

And I finally got to bring in Bachillus. I've waiting for the right time to get him into this story for a while. There's just so much possibility when he's put into the Eva setting, and he's such a damn creepy villain.

I realize that the battle against him here was pretty much exactly what happened in the OAV, but fighting an alien with floor cleaner was just such a _Shinji_ thing to do that I couldn't change it. When Bachillus shows up next, though, well, you won't find _that_ in the OAV or Decode.

Speaking of that, I know I've been sticking pretty close to canon for both series. Give me a couple of chapters, though. I promise I'll surprise you.

SulliMike, close, but you're way off. :P

Belthasar, King Zero and his failed attack on Altaria were actually from the Birdy the Mighty Decode anime. Of course, in that, it was Birdy and Tsutomu who foiled his plans.

As always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Now for some fun!

* * *

Omakes

Ruins of the Fourth Wall

"Hey there, big guy," Birdy greeted Chiron as the bartender went to see to other patrons. "Buy me a drink?"

Chiron looked Birdy up and down, a big, oily grin appearing on his face.

"You old enough to drink, darling?" Chiron asked.

"You really want to bother with little details like that?" Birdy asked with a smirk.

"Guess not," Chiron replied with a chortle. "Hey! A beer for the lady here!"

The bartender produced a bottle of beer, and Shinji found himself not at all surprised to see that it was a Yebisu.

"I didn't catch your name," Chiron said.

"Shion," Birdy answered. "Shion Arata."

"I'm Chiron," he replied. "Just Chiron."

Birdy frowned. "Why just Chiron?"

"The author never expected that I'd become as useful as I did," Chiron explained casually. "He never bothered to think up a given name for me. Thought he could skate by with just the surname."

"Ah," Birdy said. "Don't you hate it when writers get lazy like that?"

"Don't I ever," Chiron grumbled. "The bastard cranks out fan fics that are over a hundred thousand words and he can't even be arsed to make _one_ of those words my first name? There's only one word for that, and it's—"

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning erupted from the clear blue sky over Tokyo-3 and streaked straight into the bar where Birdy was having a drink. The blast of electricity slammed into Chiron, and moments later his blackened body was laying in a heap on the floor.

Yet somehow, his NERV ID card was laying atop him, unharmed.

There was dead silence within the bar for several seconds, with everyone just starting at Chiron, stunned.

Then, Birdy snatched up the card. "Yoink!" she said cheerfully, running out of the bar.

* * *

Oops…

Hours after her run in with Gomez, Birdy emerged from a regeneration tank inside her spaceship. "Much better," she breathed, moving her hand about on her newly repaired wrist.

**Would you cover up please?** Shinji asked, his blush somehow audible.

Birdy rolled her eyes, but she triggered her modulator, causing her uniform to appear on her body.

"At least today wasn't a total loss," Birdy said. "Now we know for sure that Revi and NERV are working together."

Not in a combative mood, Shinji didn't bother to try and defend his father. **I guess, but I can't shake the feeling that we forgot something…**

"Hmm, I know what you mean," Birdy said, stroking her chin thoughtfully.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Matsushiro, Hazumi was _still_ trying to figure out how to reached the dull knife she'd been left with. The dumpster was just far too heavy for her to drag so much as a millimeter, and her object was _just_ out of her reach.

_Damn it! This day _sucks!

* * *

"Eh, it must just be our imaginations," Birdy said.

**Yeah, I guess you're right,** Shinji said. **So, can we head back home now?**

"Of course," Birdy said. "Hey, what are you planning to make for dinner, Shinji?"

* * *

Unexpected Encounters

Birdy's heart raced as she ran through Terminal Dogma. Her chance to bust Revi was at hand, she could feel it.

The Altarian's excitement was rudely interrupted when she turned a corner and crashed into someone, the both of them nearly falling down. Thinking it might be one of Revi's goons, she instantly got into a fighting stance…then did a double take when she saw who it was.

"Kaji?" she asked.

The spy blinked. "Who are you?" he asked. "What are you doing down here?"

"Nothing," Birdy answered, crossing her arms over her chest. "What are _you_ doing down here?"

Beads of sweat appeared on Kaji's brow. "Also nothing," he answered.

"Ah, well then, carry on," Birdy said magnanimously.

"You too," Kaji said.

And with that, the two went their separate ways, both of them quite pleased with themselves.

**I can't believe that worked,** Shinji said. **The two of you are both either incredibly stupid or incredibly brilliant.**

"I'll tell you one thing," Birdy said with a chuckle. "_He's_ really stupid. I can't believe he bought that!"

**Yeah…**

* * *

Unexpected Assistance

**But you'll get drunk!** Shinji protested.

"Just want something to take the edge off tonight," Birdy said softly.

Shinji, full of sympathy for Birdy and not truly aware of how much he'd regret it come morning, couldn't bring himself to argue further as the Altarian cracked the first can.

However, before she could take a single sip, the door to Shinji's room slid open, revealing Pen-Pen standing in the doorway.

And he was wearing sunglasses, which was even weirder than it would have been normally, since it was the middle of the night.

"Federation officer," the penguin spoke with the voice of a gritty cop who's seen far too much evil in his time on the force but continued to fight the good fight anyway because that's just the kind of man he is. "I suspected as much, but I wasn't sure until now."

Birdy blinked. "Shinji," she said slowly. "I haven't even started drinking yet and your guardian's pet is talking to me."

Pen-Pen sighed and took out a small ID card from behind his collar, his claws showing surprising dexterity. Birdy slowly accepted it and read the card.

"Agent P of the MIB?"

"Men in Black," Pen-Pen explained. "We're a top secret agency that deals with extraterrestrials on Earth. Started out as an American organization, but when squabbling between us and similar national agencies caused us all to drop the ball in a big way and let Second Impact happen, the UN internationalized us."

"I see," Birdy said, handing Pen-Pen back his card.

The bird grunted. "I'll level with you. I don't appreciate the Federation sending its own people down here without consulting us," he said. "Earth is _our_ jurisdiction. However, Christella Revi represents an A-Level threat against the planet, so I'd be willing to pool resources with you in a joint effort, just this once. You in?"

"Hell yes!" Birdy said.

"Good," Pen-Pen said. "Let's step inside my office and discuss the details."

"Uh, your office?"

"Inside my fridge."

Birdy sweat dropped. "Agent P…"

"Trust me, it's bigger on the inside than you'd expect," Pen-Pen said.

Birdy hesitated, then shrugged. "Eh, what the hell? Lead the way, Agent P."

(A/N: I don't own the MIB, either.)


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Seven: **Defiance in the Dark**

"Birdy, I swear to God, if you ever do this to me again, I will kill you," Shinji said the next morning as he stumbled to the bathroom.

Plenty of teenagers hit the bottle for the first time and were unprepared for when the bottle hit back the next morning. However, only Shinji Ikari got the unique experience of having let someone else enjoy the pleasant effects of being drunk while _he_ was stuck with the hangover.

**Uh, if you do that, you'll kill yourself, too,** she pointed out.

"I know," Shinji said as he shut the bathroom door behind himself. The Third Child looked in the mirror and was unsurprised to see that he looked like hell. "It'll be two birds with one stone. I'll get my revenge and put myself out of my misery at the same time."

**Whatever,** Birdy groaned, clearly undaunted by his threats.

A deep silence within his mind followed, and Shinji realized that Birdy had gone to sleep. His lips peeled back in a silent snarl; he couldn't believe that Birdy had the audacity to not even share the pain she had caused.

Then again, if he had the option of sleeping this off, he knew he sure as hell would have. Unfortunately, he couldn't do that because he had to pretend like everything was normal. If he told Misato he was sick, she'd probably drag him down to NERV Medical to be checked out, and they'd probably figure out what was really wrong with him.

With a sigh, the Third Child did his business, then tried unsuccessfully to vomit in hopes it would make him feel a little better. After this failed, he looked through the medicine cabinet, soon discovering a box of cherry flavored Alka-Seltzer and a bottle of aspirin. He swallowed as many of the latter as he dared, then went to the kitchen with two of the Alka-Seltzer tablets in hand. There, he dropped them into a glass of water and drank the bubbling mixture down.

"Ugh," he grimaced. "That does not taste like cherries."

The Third Child knew that Misato kept hair of the dog in the apartment somewhere, and he considered searching it out. After a moment's thought, however, he rejected the idea and went to the task of throwing out the empty beer cans that still sat in his room.

Once this task was done, he stood motionless in the kitchen for several moments, trying to figure out if he'd done everything on his mental checklist. This would have been much easier if his head wasn't both foggy and pounding at the same time. Eventually, though, he decided that he'd done everything he needed to and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

By the time he was done, the meds he'd taken had managed to blunt the symptoms of his hangover and he was feeling almost human, though still not _good_ by any stretch of the imagination.

_I might just live through this day,_ he mused as he finished dressing and walked out of his room into the hallway.

"Morgen, Shinji."

The Third Child started at the sound of one of his flat mate's voices, but Asuka, still in her pajamas, was apparently not awake enough to notice or care.

"Oh, ohayo, Asuka," he replied.

"Hey, are you all right?" she asked. "You don't look too hot."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he quickly reassured her.

She nodded, obviously willing to take him at his word. "So, what's for breakfast?"

Shinji suddenly recalled that Misato had once said greasy food helped with hangovers. "How does bacon sound?" he asked.

Asuka blinked. She had been expecting him to give his usual answer to that question, namely toast and miso.

"Wundervoll," she answered, pleasantly surprised.

Shinji didn't know what exactly the German word meant, but the Second Child's tone was obviously one of approval. He nodded and headed for the kitchen while Asuka ducked into the bathroom for a shower.

A few minutes later, he had several strips of bacon sizzling away in the frying pan and a couple of slices of bread in the toaster.

_Bacon sandwiches can't be exactly the healthiest way to start the day, but if Birdy's binges haven't made me gain weight, this sure as hell won't,_ he mused, discovering that the smell of the frying strips of pork was actually causing his appetite to stir.

A monumental yawn suddenly sounded in the kitchen, and Shinji turned to see Misato entering. "G'morning," she mumbled.

She stumbled over to the fridge and removed a can of Yebisu (or "that evil swill" as Shinji would forever think of it) and downed it in one gulp.

"YEEEHAAW!" Misato's customary morning yell echoed through the apartment, causing Shinji to wince in pain.

_This is going to be a _long_ day,_ he thought.

"Hey, are you all right, Shinji-kun?" Misato asked, taking a closer look at her ward now that she was fully awake.

"I'm fine," he replied, perhaps a little too quickly.

Misato narrowed her eyes slightly. _He almost looks like he's…nah! This is _Shinji_, after all,_ she thought. _He probably wouldn't touch my beer if I paid him to._

"Good," she said, "because there's a sync test scheduled for this afternoon."

He grimaced, turning back to the pan so Misato couldn't see him. _This is going to be a _really_ long day…_

* * *

"You know, Gomez, watching that over and over again won't yield any new information."

The big man started and quickly rose, turning to face his visitors. Revi stood in the doorway to his office, and behind her was the little girl who was her constant shadow.

"Revi-sama," he greeted.

She looked at the screen he'd been staring intently at only moments before. It showed an image of a certain Altarian fleeing from the NERV base. "How much footage do you have?" she asked.

"Only a few minutes," Gomez answered. "The security systems ceased working when the Angel infected the MAGI, and there are no cameras in Terminal Dogma. I only have part of her making her escape."

"Catch much flak over this incident?" Revi asked.

"Not much," Gomez answered. "Chiron has too much egg on his face right now to feel free to start pointing the finger at others. I assume Ikari had words with you?"

"A few," Revi answered. "He was most distressed to discover that an intruder had made her way down here where so many critical elements of his precious scenario are kept."

"You know, of course, that he has his little insurance policies in case we ever abuse our access to this place?" Gomez asked.

A small smirk appeared on Revi's face. "Of course," she answered, "but I didn't come here to discuss that with you. Why are you so preoccupied with this? Her appearance at Matsushiro didn't bother you this much."

"There were ways for her to find that part of our operations," Gomez said. "Frankly, I didn't think the Federation officer was clever enough to do so, but that just means I underestimated her somewhat. This, though…the window of opportunity she had was too small. She shouldn't have been able to exploit it like she did. In hindsight, the way she knew to target Captain Chiron is also worrisome."

Revi arched an eyebrow. That was perhaps the most she'd ever heard Gomez speak at once. "You believe that she has a human accomplice within NERV," she said.

"Correct," Gomez said. "And there's no way to tell whom."

"I don't suppose Bachillus has told you anything useful," Revi said.

"Bachillus hasn't told me anything," Gomez said, "and I don't expect he will when he's finished licking his wounds, either."

Revi nodded. Bachillus had been very useful to her, but he had never been quite right in the head. He was especially notorious for refusing to be debriefed when a mission ended badly.

"You need only fend off the Federation officer for a little longer," Revi said. "Then she won't matter. Given how unlikely it is that she'll get another chance as good as the one that the Eleventh Angel presented her, I'm sure you're up to the task."

"Thank you, Revi-sama," Gomez said.

Revi left, the little girl following her, and left Gomez alone. The big man sighed and went back to watching the security footage, now doubly determined to protect Revi's interests.

* * *

Hours later found the three Children sitting within the confines of their test plugs. Shinji, whose symptoms had been slowly but surely abating all day, had still nearly vomited the second he'd had to inhale the LCL, finding the smell of blood much sharper than usual.

"The test is concluded," Ritsuko's voice sounded inside the plug.

_Thank you, God!_ Shinji thought as the test plugs opened up, allowing the pilots to leave.

He didn't hesitate to expel the LCL from his system and then head to the locker room to wash off the horrible stuff (in his mind, it was almost as loathsome a substance as Yebisu at the moment. Almost).

"Just have to get through the usual post-test lecture and then it's homeward bound," Shinji muttered to himself as hot water cascaded over him.

**That's a relief,** Birdy spoke up.

"I see you're awake again," Shinji grumbled in response.

She had woken up shortly after the end of the school day, but once he'd gone into the test plug, she'd passed out as she usually did during sync tests.

**Hey, don't be like that,** Birdy said.

Shinji responded with stony silence.

**Look, I'm sorry about last night. I won't do it again,** she said.

"Damn right you won't," Shinji said, though he felt his anger at Birdy fading despite himself.

He briefly wondered why he was devoid of the ability to hold a grudge, then sighed. "After dinner, I was thinking about going through Misato's movie collection and seeing if there's a Bond flick in there. How does that sound?"

**Sounds good,** Birdy said cheerfully. **So, let's get the heck out of here already.**

Shinji nodded and shut off the water. Minutes later, he and the two other pilots were standing before Misato and Ritsuko in the test plug control room.

"Rei, Asuka, your results both remained stable," Ritsuko said. "Keep up the good work. Shinji, you, on the other hand, are down by seven points."

Shinji did his best to look contrite, even though in reality he was rather impressed with himself. So much of his concentration had been going toward not throwing up while he took the test that he wouldn't have been shocked if he'd been down by twenty points.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I was distracted today. It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," Ritsuko said.

"All right, you're dismissed," Misato said.

The three Children nodded and headed out. Shinji happened to be first in line, and he hit the button to open the door. It slid open with a soft whoosh—

And revealed the silent, looming form of Gendo Ikari standing in the doorway.

Shinji started and reflexively took a step back, nearly bumping into Asuka. "H-Hello, Father," he greeted the man nervously.

The Commander ignored him and instead addressed Misato. "Major, would you mind if I borrowed Pilot Ikari for a moment? I require a brief word with him."

It wasn't a request, of course, despite being phrased like one, so Misato immediately agreed. Gendo nodded, then gestured curtly for Shinji to follow him. The Third Child silently fell in step behind his father, his mind racing.

_Does he know about Birdy?_ He wondered desperately, already picturing Akagi and an army of other NERV scientists poking and prodding at him like a lab rat.

Gendo was maddeningly silent for several moments, and Shinji, verging on panic, didn't realize that the man was just waiting until they were completely alone in one of the base's many winding hallways to speak.

"I trust you remember what tomorrow is?" he asked abruptly.

For a second, Shinji was immeasurably relieved that his father didn't know of his unique circumstances.

Then, the question actually registered, and Shinji recalled just what the next day was.

With the search for Revi consuming what parts of his time and thoughts that NERV and school weren't, he had completely forgotten the date. Shinji felt shame burn through him.

"Y-Yes, I know what tomorrow is," he said.

_…now,_ he added silently.

"I expect you to meet me at the graveyard tomorrow at one o'clock," Gendo said, and this, too, was not a request.

"Yes, Father," Shinji said.

Gendo nodded. "You're dismissed, then."

"Yes, Father," Shinji said, then scurried off.

**What was that about?** Birdy asked once he was out of earshot of his father.

"Tomorrow is the anniversary of my mother's death," Shinji answered softly. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm really not in the mood to watch movies tonight anymore."

* * *

Shinji had always pictured graveyards as perpetually dark and shadowy places, despite having visited a real one more than once in the course of his short life. This vision always made seeing how sun drenched the place where his mother's headstone was located all the more startling.

_I hate this place,_ Shinji thought as he lay a bouquet of white flowers down upon his mother's grave.

He had never had a good experience that related to this particular place. Not that he expected to walk away from a graveyard feeling cheerful, but his trips there always did far more than make his longing for his mother fresh again. They made him feel ashamed of his inability to remember much of anything about her. They made him wonder, again to his shame, if the rumors about his father having a hand in her death had been true. And, since his father was always there when he visited the grave, they always invoked in him some desperate hope that their shared sorrow over this woman's death would bring them together.

So far, this hope had always been dashed.

"It's been three years since we last came here together," Gendo said.

"I ran away then, and I haven't been back until now," Shinji confessed. "It just hasn't sunk in that mother is resting here. I don't even remember her face."

"Man survives by forgetting his memories," Gendo commented, "but there are some things a man should never forget. Yui taught me about those things. I come here to confirm that."

"You don't have any pictures of her?" Shinji asked, faint traces of both hope and accusation mingling in his voice.

"None. This grave as well is just decoration. There is no body here," Gendo said.

"So my old guardian was right," Shinji said. "You threw them all away."

"I keep everything in my heart. That is enough for now," Gendo said, sounding almost offended.

A VTOL suddenly descended from the sky, its engines creating terrific gusts and kicking up great clouds of dust. It landed gently on the closest patch of empty ground near Gendo that it could find.

"Father," Shinji said as the Commander headed toward the aircraft. "I…I'm glad we got to spend time together like this."

"I see," was all the reply Gendo made before he got into the VTOL and shut the door behind him.

Birdy continued her respectful silence with only the greatest of effort as she and Shinji watched the VTOL fly off into the sky.

_What did that man ever do to earn so much loyalty from his son?_She wondered, not for the first time.

Shinji hesitated for a moment, somehow feeling at loose ends. However, there didn't seem to be any point in lingering where he was any longer, so he started to make his way out of the graveyard.

"I guess that's that," he said as he reached the sidewalk.

**Hey, Shinji?** Birdy spoke up quietly. **Do you think we could go on patrol? It'll be a real patrol. I won't just raid Asuka's closet and go shopping, I promise.**

Shinji paused for a moment, considering, then nodded. "Why not?" he sighed. "It's not like I had any more plans for today other than to sit around feeling depressed."

_Which is exactly why I want to go bouncing around the city for a few hours,_ Birdy thought as he searched for a private location for them to switch places, hoping the excursion would at least take Shinji's mind off his woes.

* * *

The sun had set long ago by the time Shinji returned to the apartment after an uneventful patrol, discovering the remains of meal consisting of Chinese take out food sitting upon the kitchen table. For some reason, Pen-Pen was asleep among the group of white cartons.

_I guess that explains what they did for dinner,_ he thought. _I wonder if they saved me any…_

"Where the hell have you been, Third Child?! It's almost eleven o'clock!"

Shinji jumped and turned to see Asuka rounding on him, wearing a fairly fancy green dress. Oddly enough, she actually sounded like she might have been worried about him.

_What's with the dress?_ He wondered, suddenly picturing how out of place she'd look, sitting at the kitchen table and eating Chinese take out in that outfit.

Wracking his brain for a few seconds, he vaguely recalled Asuka saying something about having a date that day.

_I'm so out of the loop on just about everything, thanks to Birdy,_ he thought ruefully.

"I asked you a question, Third!" Asuka snapped, dragging Shinji back to the present. "Where have you been all this time?"

"I was…" Shinji trailed off, knowing he couldn't very well tell Asuka the truth.

**Riding the train and listening to my SDAT all day,** Birdy supplied.

"Riding the train and listening to my SDAT all day," Shinji parroted without thinking, then resisted the urge to scowl.

_Never should have told her about that time I tried to run away,_ he decided.

Asuka gave him an incredulous look. "Why in the world would you spend all day doing _that_?"

Shinji shrugged. "Today's the anniversary of my mother's death. It's how I…deal with it, I guess."

He expected Asuka to proclaim that his stated method of coping was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard. Instead, she just looked away, but not before he spotted a flash of sympathy in her blue eyes. She was just full of surprises tonight, he mused.

"I see," she said quietly. "Well, there's some food left over for you."

"Thanks," he said.

The Third Child grabbed a pair of chopsticks and began to survey the various cartons of food that were scattered about on the table, careful to avoid disturbing Pen-Pen. He noticed that there wasn't a whole lot left and wondered if this was some kind of revenge for when Birdy had consumed three quarters of the pizza that he'd ordered for their dinner that one time.

He shrugged mentally and dug into the remaining pork fried rice. "So where's Misato?" he asked between bites.

Asuka sighed heavily. "Still out with Kaji."

Shinji winced, sorry he'd asked, and turned his attention to his food. Yet before he was able to take another bite, he heard the sound of the door to the apartment opening. Asuka jumped up and practically sprinted to the door, obviously hoping that Kaji would still be with Misato. Rather reluctantly, Shinji left his dinner and followed her.

**Oh, she's bombed,** Birdy said as he got within view of the doorway and saw Misato staggering inside.

"You don't get to criticize her for that anymore," Shinji whispered. "Not after the other day."

Birdy just grumbled wordlessly in response.

"Can you please make sure Misato gets to bed all right, Asuka?" Kaji asked, gently nudging the purple haired woman toward the German.

"Of course," Asuka said quickly, "but—"

"Good night, Asuka," Kaji said, looking very preoccupied.

And then he was gone, leaving a very disappointed Asuka behind.

**Ouch,** Birdy said, feeling a stab of sympathy for the redhead who was so infatuated with the unshaven man.

"C'mon, Asuka," Shinji said, "let me give you a hand."

They each grabbed one of their unsteady guardian's arms and led her silently to her bedroom.

* * *

The life of an EVA pilot could take dramatic and sometimes violent twists in the course of twenty-four hours, even excluding the events that resulted from run-ins with Altarian police officers. Shinji knew this, of course, but each time it happened, it still surprised him.

The current moment was a prime example. After all the quiet melancholy of yesterday, he now found himself creeping through the city in his EVA, shadowing an enormous, floating sphere with black and white stripes all over its surface.

"Are you all reading me?" Misato asked over the radio. "We've sent you all the data we have on this Angel. Yes, I realize it isn't much. So far we haven't detected a blue pattern or an At field, but that doesn't mean it's not dangerous. Approach it with extreme caution and try to learn what it's capable of. If you can, lure it outside of the city so we can engage it there."

"Roger," Shinji confirmed, not entirely sure why he was whispering but keeping his voice down nonetheless.

"Asuka," Misato said. "I want you to take point on this one."

"You got it," Asuka replied at once.

"Units Zero and One, you're backup," Misato said. "Watch Unit Two's back. And all of you, be ready to adapt to the situation at a moment's notice."

"Roger!" they chorused.

* * *

_And here I always thought that training course on being stealthy in an EVA was just a waste of time,_ Asuka thought as she used the skyscrapers of Tokyo-3 to avoid allowing a direct line of sight to exist between her EVA and Unit Two.

Like Shinji, the Second Child was struck by the difference between this day and the one that had come before it. Unlike Shinji, she _definitely_ considered the present to be better than the previous night.

She was in her element, doing the thing she _existed_ to do. Her heart was pounding, and she felt alive as she did only before and during battle. Not even thoughts of how she'd been snubbed by the man of her dreams last night could invade her focus now.

_Maybe if I kill this Angel all by myself, Kaji will finally take notice of me for real,_ she thought eagerly.

Well, they mostly couldn't.

"Shinji, Rei, are you in position?" Asuka asked.

"Hai," they both answered at once.

With a thought, Asuka brought up a small map on her HUD. The three EVA Units were represented by blue, purple and red triangles, while the Angel was a black circle. She frowned briefly, noting how far away Rei was from the target, but then remembered that Unit Zero was armed with an Evangelion sized sniper rifle.

Why command had seen fit to give Rei a sniper rifle when the Angel had no visible core and nothing resembling a head, Asuka couldn't guess, but it was too late to question that choice now.

Shinji, armed with a standard issue EVA pistol, was closer, and Asuka's own Unit Two, which held a progressive ax in its crimson hands, was the closet. Everything was ready.

The Angel continued to float lazily by, seemingly oblivious to the attack that NERV had hastily prepared.

"I'm gonna make my move…now!" Asuka announced.

Unit Two abruptly broke cover, emerging from its hiding place behind one of Tokyo-3's skyscrapers. It's right shoulder pylon opened, revealing a feature that neither the prototype nor the test type Evangelion enjoyed, a spike launcher.

Great cylinders of metal, all of which were sharpened to deadly points on either end, erupted from the launcher and sailed straight at the Angel, promising to turn the zebra striped ball into Swiss cheese.

Only that never happened. Rather than puncturing the Angel, the spikes somehow caused it to wink out of existence. The deadly metal barbs never made contact with it and instead crashed to the street, smashing through the asphalt.

"Blue pattern detected! Angel confirmed!" Akagi squawked over the radio.

Asuka, who a second ago had been ready to charge forward with her ax swinging, stopped short, taken aback by this latest development.

Then she realized that she was sinking.

"The hell?!" Asuka exclaimed, looking down and feeling horror shoot through her at what she saw. "The shadow!"

The shadow of the Twelfth Angel remained steady, even though the sphere itself was flashing in and out of existence. And it was pulling her Unit Two down into itself. The crimson war machine was already up to its ankles in the inky blackness.

"It's an inverted AT field! The shadow is the real Angel!" Asuka heard Akagi shout.

_Thanks, blondie, that would have been _real_ helpful two minutes ago!_ Asuka thought, even as she threw her will to the task of escaping the void.

She attempted to lift her EVA's feet out of the abyss, but it was to no avail; all she managed to accomplish was briefly throwing herself off balance and nearly causing herself to fall face first into it.

Not wasting any time, the Second Child immediately tried to find something onto which she could grab hold, only to quickly discover that the nearest skyscraper was _just_ out of her EVA's reach.

In desperation, she swung her ax downwards with a loud war cry. It sank slowly into the darkness and was soon sucked down, forcing her to release her hold on it. Asuka watched it vanish, knowing that now she was completely out of options.

And Unit Two was now down to its knees in the void.

* * *

"Blue pattern detected! Angel confirmed!" the voice of Dr. Akagi filled Shinji's plug.

**Didn't we already know…what the hell is happening?!** Birdy shouted as both she and Shinji got that sinking feeling.

Shinji cursed as he looked down and saw the feet of his EVA sinking downwards. Reflexively, he pointed the pistol Unit One held downwards and fired again and again until the weapon clicked empty. The huge shells were swallowed up by the Angel and vanished without a trace.

**Don't attack the thing! Just get the hell away!** Birdy exclaimed.

Normally, Shinji would have been irritated with the Altarian for giving him commands. Getting orders from her at the same time he was getting orders from Misato confused the hell out of him, and it had caused him to flub more than one combat simulation.

This time, however, he decided to just go with it.

Fortunately for him, he was in a much better position than Asuka was, not having broken from cover himself. The Third Child commanded Unit One to grab a nearby weapons block with both hands, and the violet destroyer pulled itself out of the dark abyss and began to scale the metal tower.

Within seconds, Unit One stood atop the skyscraper sized weapons turret, its enormous weight causing the metal at the top of the structure to bend and deform. From atop his high perch, Shinji was easily able to see the entirety of Tokyo-3.

"My god…" he breathed.

The city was sinking. Every building caught within the shadow's perimeter was being sucked into it, many of them already leaning at crazy angles. A large portion of Tokyo-3 resembled a city made of building blocks that was slowly descending into the mire of a great mud puddle.

And Evangelion Unit Two stood right in the center of it all, already up to its hips.

"Shinji! Rei! Retreat!" Misato ordered.

"What?" Shinji asked.

"But Asuka's trapped! She can't escape by herself!" Rei objected, raising her voice for the first time in Shinji's memory.

"This is an order," Misato said, her voice pained.

With great reluctance, Rei lowered her huge sniper rifle and began to walk away from the edge of the shadow, heading in the direction of the nearest EVA lift.

Unit One, however, didn't move.

**Shinji?** Birdy spoke up softly, a note of trepidation clear in her voice. **Misato ordered you to retreat…**

_And since when have _you_ ever put any faith in Misato's orders?_ He thought sardonically, almost smirking.

He could feel himself slipping into that same fugue-like state that he had gone into at Mount Asuma. He wouldn't—couldn't—just retreat and leave Asuka sinking to her doom.

**What are you doing?** Birdy asked again when the Third Child continued to hold his silence.

It was a fortunate thing that she couldn't see his eyes; the crazed glimmer in them would have terrified her.

"Playing hopscotch," he answered.

**What the heck do you—?**

Birdy's question dissolved into a yelp of fright as Unit One leapt from the top of the building it stood upon to another, this one closer to the center of the Angel. Not even pausing to get his EVA balanced on the great tower, Shinji leapt to another building, and then another, ignoring the protests of both Misato and Birdy the whole time.

It was an insane charge if ever there had been one; the various skyscrapers didn't offer anything resembling reliable stepping stones with the way they were sinking into the Angel, and more than once, Unit One nearly went plunging into the abyss below. Yet somehow, Shinji managed to keep his EVA out of the pit of despair and moving toward Unit Two at a breakneck pace.

At least, he was until he flung Unit One at the very last building he needed to get to before he could reach Asuka.

The Third Child had no desire to land on the roof of this particular skyscraper, because he wouldn't be able to reach Unit Two from there. So instead, he threw Unit One at the wall of the structure and wrapped his EVA's arms and legs around the high tower.

Then he felt himself moving, and he wasn't sliding down. The tower was falling over!

"Oh crap," he breathed as he braced himself, unable to believe that he'd come this close only to fail.

The building fell slowly at first; this particular structure was quite well balanced and probably would have sunk straight down instead of toppling over, if not for Shinji throwing Unit One's massive weight into it. However, it soon picked up speed, and Shinji closed his eyes.

The landing was surprisingly smooth. The building held together almost perfectly, and the jolt from the impact that he'd expected was far less intense than he feared. He cautiously opened his eyes and quickly looked about. He was still above the shadow, and Unit Two, now up to its chest, was within reach.

_I won't have much time now, but this worked out surprisingly well,_ Shinji mused before he sprang into action.

"Asuka!" he shouted, making sure to activate Unit One's external speakers. "Take my hand!"

He reached out, and the crimson EVA immediately grabbed hold of Unit One's forearm. Shinji grabbed Unit Two's wrist with his Evangelion's remaining hand and pulled. The scarlet EVA slowly began to rise from the blackness.

_Come on!_ He thought, gritting his teeth as he applied every bit of Unit One's considerable might to the task, acutely aware of the way his perch was sinking into the shadow.

Shinji let out a wordless yell as he gave one last tug with everything he had, feeling like his arms would be wrenched from their sockets.

It was enough, barely. Unit Two was pulled free of the shadow and crawled onto the fallen skyscraper that Unit One stood upon and lay there, face down.

"D-Danke schön," Asuka panted, opening up a communications channel to Unit One.

"Uh, welcome," Shinji replied. "Now we have to—"

And that's when it happened.

Perhaps the Angel was angry that Unit Two had escaped its clutches. Perhaps pulling things out of the dark void simply didn't agree with the Angel. Perhaps it was just Shinji's terrible luck.

Whatever the reason, the building they stood upon quaked abruptly.

Unit Two, which was laying down on it, was fine. Unit One, however, wasn't as fortunate. Shinji let out a cry of fright, and he sent the EVA's arms pin wheeling as he desperately tried to balance it again. For a split second, it looked like he might actually succeed.

Then, Unit One fell backwards, landing right in the jaws of the beast.

"Shinji!" Asuka screamed, instantly bringing her EVA to its feet and trying to reach out and grab him.

It was no use. On its back, Unit One had barely a fraction of the time Unit Two had enjoyed, and none of the ability to reach out to a would-be savior. Asuka tried to grab its foot, but within seconds, the test-type Evangelion had vanished, Shinji screams terminating abruptly as it did so.

"No," Asuka breathed. "No!"

"Asuka!" Misato barked, causing the Second Child to start. "You'll join him if you don't get your ass in gear! Don't throw away what he did! _Move!_"

Reluctantly, Asuka did as she was commanded, almost absent mindedly sending her EVA jumping from building to building as she vacated the danger zone.

_Damn it, Shinji, you had better not die. You had just damn well better not,_ she thought bitterly.

* * *

"Sixteen hours," Ritsuko said.

"What was that sempai?" Maya asked, even as she kept her eyes locked onto the striped and now stationary sphere that hung over Tokyo-3.

The two women were aboard a helicopter that was flying above the Twelfth Angel, surveying it. Maya didn't see much point in doing so; besides the shadow and the sphere, there was nothing to see, and neither of those would divulge any secrets to the naked eye.

Also, flying above the Angel gave the technician the creeps.

"Without his umbilical, Shinji can survive in there for sixteen hours on minimal life support mode," Akagi said. "Assuming, of course, he doesn't waste time and battery power groping around in the dark."

"Major Katsuragi must feel terrible," Maya said.

"Not as terrible as Asuka, I'd bet," Ritsuko said grimly.

Maya just sighed and nodded as the helicopter continued to make its way across the sky.

* * *

"It's been four hours," Shinji moaned softly after consulting the watch that was built into his plug suit.

The Third Child found himself both surprised that _only_ four hours had passed while being appalled that four hours had _already_ passed. Time moved at a snail's pace within the hell he'd found himself trapped inside, yet he knew only too well that every second which slipped away was one fewer second he had to live.

It was utter torture.

**How much time do we have left?** Birdy asked.

"About twelve hours," Shinji answered. "Twelve hours before the power runs out, and the life support systems die."

**Plenty of time for NERV to rescue us, then,** Birdy said, trying to sound optimistic but not fooling Shinji for a moment. She forced a chuckle. **Maybe your father will ask Revi for help with this situation. That would be something I'd never thought would happen, me getting saved by Christella Revi.**

"Mm," Shinji just grunted noncommittally in response.

He had no real hope that Revi would produce some piece of alien technology that would force the Angel to spit Unit One out. It was, after all, rather doubtful that the Federation or anyone else out there had technology which could manipulate the "Untouchables."

"Birdy?" he spoke up after a few, endless moments had passed in silence.

**Yeah?**

"I'm sorry I got us into this mess," he said softly. "I always thought you were the one who did the crazy stuff, but I guess it was really me."

**Shinji…**

"I really _am_ sorry," he went on, as though he hadn't heard her. "I know that you've been trying to hold back from taking the big risks because we're sharing a body. I should have done the same, but I didn't."

Birdy certainly wasn't about to start casting blame, not at this stage of things. Nothing good could possibly come from it, she knew. **It was something you just had to do. I can understand that.**

He nodded slightly. "I have to admit," he said, "as guilty as I feel about involving you in this, I really am glad that I don't have to die alone."

**Shinji!** The Altarian snapped, causing him to start.

"What?" he asked, feeling unreasonably irritated at how she'd ended the quiet and somber moment.

**You can't just accept that you're going to die so easily!** Birdy scolded him.

"Huh? But—"

**No buts!** She insisted. **If you accept that you're going to die, then you will! You need to fight to survive until you've breathed your last breath, Shinji Ikari!**

Shinji exploded, something within him finally snapping after the hours and hours of imprisonment within the coffin that was his entry plug.

"Fight? Fight _what?_ We are inside a god damn _black hole!_" He screamed.

Birdy hesitated, clearly having no answer ready.

"You want me to open the door and just fly to safety?" Shinji asked, sounding more and more hysterical with each word he spoke. "Hell, I'll give it a shot!"

The Third Child came as close to standing as he was able to within the cramped confines of the plug and grabbed the handle to manually open the hatch, attempting to open it. Since the entry plug was still within the confines of the EVA, however, this was utterly futile.

Not that it kept him from trying his level best. The pilot of Unit One gave the handle several fierce tugs, putting all his strength behind it. After he exhausted himself, Shinji collapsed back into his seat.

_Maybe Birdy would be strong enough to open it,_ he thought, even though he knew only too well that the task was pretty much impossible.

Still, part of him found the thought hilarious for some reason, and he threw his head back and laughed. It was the same insane laughter he'd nearly become lost in when Birdy had first explained to him how they were stuck together, but this time, Shinji had no intention of forcing himself to stop.

Birdy apparently sensed this. She almost immediately commandeered control of his right arm and made him slap himself hard enough to leave a red mark on his cheek, silencing him instantly.

**Sorry,** she said, **but you were seriously losing it there.**

"I guess I was," Shinji said, panting with exertion. "But the question's still valid: how are we supposed to fight in this situation?"

**First of all, you don't give up. Never, ever give up,** Birdy said firmly. **Do that and you're already dead. Second…just wait and try to stay alert for any opportunity to strike back against this thing.**

"All right, but I can't see this Angel giving us any kind of opportunity like that," Shinji said grimly. "After all, _it_ doesn't need to change the status quo here."

* * *

One thing she had learned about the Second Child, Rei mused as she watched the redhead pacing, was that Asuka Langley Soryu was a person of _action_.

Asuka wasn't one to hesitate when she felt something needed doing, she just went out and _did_ it. Which was great when there was a mistreated EVA pilot who needed someone to get her moved into a living space that was actually fit for human habitation. However, it also often led to Asuka doing rather foolish things for lack of thinking a situation through.

And of course, it meant that waiting was one of the Second Child's least favorite activities.

"Mein Gott, what is taking so long?" Asuka demanded of no one in particular as she spun on her heel and continued pacing.

Rei thought she might become dizzy just watching the German. "This Angel is clearly more complex than those that have come before," she said. "NERV will probably want to analyze it further before they act. Unit One should still have many hours before its batteries are depleted." She added.

"Yeah, it _should_, but who the hell knows how much time passed before the baka put his EVA into life support mode?" Asuka grumbled.

"Ikari is not foolish enough to waste so much time panicking," Rei said.

Asuka nearly asked Rei what made her so her confident in the jumpy boy's ability to act rationally in a terrifying situation. She managed to check herself, but it was a close thing.

"Why did he do it?" she asked instead. She felt tears of shame prick at her eyes and she ruthlessly forced them back. "Why the hell did he risk himself like that to save me?"

"Clearly, his wish for you not to die was powerful enough for him to put himself in considerable danger to save you," Rei stated.

Asuka blinked. This was not the first time that Rei had pointed out something that should have been obvious in her typically blunt but totally sincere fashion. However, it surprised Asuka every time the First Child did so.

"But _why?_" Asuka asked, feeling a seething cauldron of emotions churning within her.

She felt utterly helpless to do anything, something she completely loathed. She was grateful to Shinji for rescuing her, but at the same time she was angry with him for doing so. For rushing in like some white knight, because she was _not_ a Gott damned damsel in distress.

_Except you were,_ a voice from her mind whispered. _Here…and at the volcano._

The Second Child clenched her fist, feeling a wave of shame wash over her and wishing with all her might, not for the first time, that this Angel was one she could just punch and stab and shoot until it died.

Then she felt a small hand on her shoulder. "If you wish to know why Ikari took such a risk, you will have to ask him yourself," Rei said.

Asuka felt the tension within her that had been threatening to explode leave in a great rush and her shoulders slumped.

"I guess I will," she said quietly.

* * *

It was sunset, and Shinji Ikari was on a mag-lev train.

The Third Child somehow felt that this was…wrong somehow, but he didn't understand how that could be. The evidence was right before his eyes, and he could clearly hear all the sounds he'd learned to associate with traveling by rail.

Except the sounds of other passengers. The train was empty, he realized, save for himself and a little boy who sat across him. Said little boy had his back to the blazing orange sun, reducing him to little more than a silhouette. The only thing Shinji could see besides the child's basic shape was that he was wearing a striped shirt.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Shinji Ikari," the boy replied.

"But I'm Shinji Ikari," the Third Child protested.

"And I'm you. This self incorporates another self. The self has always been composed of two selves," the child replied. "There is the self which is observed, and the self which observes itself. To expound, there is the Shinji Ikari that exists in your mind, the Shinji Ikari in Misato Katsuragi's mind, the Shinji Ikari in Asuka Soryu's mind, the Shinji Ikari in Rei Ayanami's mind, and the Shinji Ikari in Gendo Ikari's mind."

_No Shinji Ikari in Birdy Cephon's mind?_ He wondered dimly.

"Each is a different Shinji Ikari, but each is also a true Shinji Ikari," the little Shinji continued. "What you fear are the Shinji Ikari's in the minds of others."

"I just don't want to be hated," he said.

"You need others to acknowledge your existence," the child said, lobbing the accusation at the Third Child like a missile.

Shinji didn't respond.

"You cling to what little scraps of praise you've been able to come across, wrapping them around you like a rosary, then attempt to forget about everything else," the child went on. "It is nothing short of a denial of reality."

"What the matter with denying reality when your life sucks?" Shinji snapped, keen to defend himself from this philosophical assault.

The child shook his head almost sorrowfully. "No one can hope to live by constantly regurgitating and consuming little bits of happiness again and again," he said. "It will destroy you eventually, if your terrible lust for vengeance doesn't do so first."

Shinji blinked as the little boy's argument leapt off the rails. "But I don't want revenge against anyone," he said.

The boy recoiled slightly, clearly taken aback. "You don't?" he asked.

"No, of course not," Shinji practically scoffed.

The young Shinji hesitated, and the true Shinji strongly suspected that the child was searching for some sign of deception or dishonesty.

Then, the train car dissolved around him, and he found himself back in the entry plug. His face fell; as creepy and unpleasant as the train had been, at least he hadn't been measuring his remaining time in hours there.

"Great," he said, heaving a sigh. "Now I'm becoming delusional."

**No, you're not,** Birdy spoke up.

"Huh?"

**What you just saw wasn't the product of your imagination or anything,** the Federation officer stated. **It really happened.**

He frowned. "What? But how do you know?"

**I've been trained to detect and, to an extent resist telepathic intrusions,** Birdy explained. **That was the Angel. It was too powerful and too alien to have been anything else.**

The Third Child shuddered slightly, not at all liking the idea of having an Angel invade his brain. "Oh," was all he could think to say.

**Don't you get what this means?** Birdy asked.

"Uh, not really," he admitted reluctantly.

**It means that the Angel isn't satisfied to just let us sit here until we drown!** Birdy exclaimed, practically bursting with excitement. **It wants to screw with your head first.**

She sounded so pleased, but Shinji failed to see how any of that was a good thing. "So?" he asked.

**So? **Birdy echoed. **Shinji, this is how we can fight back against this thing! It got confused because there are two minds in this one body. Maybe we can use that to our advantage when it comes back.**

Shinji was more than a little dubious about the idea. Their unique status may have thrown the Angel for a loop, but it was a lot to assume that it would allow them to put up any kind of meaningful resistance.

Still, he had to admit that it wasn't like they had a whole lot to lose by trying.

"Okay," he said. "How do we do that?"

Birdy hesitated for a moment. **I have an idea.**

She switched places with him, grimacing at the feel and smell of being submerged in the LCL herself. _How does he stand this?_ She wondered.

**So what exactly is your idea?** Shinji asked.

"Hopefully, when the Angel comes back, it'll be confused again when it finds someone else in your place," Birdy said. "Other than that…we just have to play this one by ear. This thing's just too much of an unknown factor for us to make a real plan."

**Right,** Shinji said.

It was a very thin hope, he knew, but it was hope all the same, and Shinji found that the entry plug was less of a hell because of it.

* * *

"NERV's going to do _what?!_" Asuka shrieked, loud enough for everyone in the immediate vicinity to hear.

"They're going to drop nearly 1,000 N2 mines into the Angel in hopes of destroying it with brute force," Misato answered grimly. "Priority has been shifted from rescuing the pilot to retrieving the EVA."

The Second Child could barely believe what she was hearing. "But that's murder!" Asuka screeched. "Do something! Make them change the plans!"

"What am _I_ supposed to do?" Misato spat, her ire directed more at Ritsuko than the teenage girl who stood before her. "Dr. Akagi relieved me of command for this operation! I can't stop this any more than you can!"

Asuka just fumed silently in response, Misato's retort reminding her of just how impotent she was in this situation.

_I am never going to get to repay Shinji for saving my life again,_ she thought.

It was a surprisingly terrifying idea.

"Do you have orders for us?" Rei spoke up, quietly cutting through the tense and miserable silence.

"Yes," Misato said. "We're going to need both of you to use your EVA's AT fields to contain the explosion."

"I won't—!"

"There's a chance Shinji will survive if we do this, Asuka," Misato said firmly, cutting off the Second Child. "It's not a good chance, but it's there. If you dig in your heels and refuse to do this, though, then he's dead for sure."

Asuka took a deep breath. "Fine."

"What time is the bomb drop scheduled for?" Rei asked.

"The same time Unit One's battery should run dry," Misato said. "It takes a while to organize something like that, and, well, we want to give Shinji as much time as possible to free himself before we do it."

"I don't see how anyone could," Asuka said.

"Neither do I," Misato confessed, "but if anyone can pull it off, Shinji can. He and Unit One have done some impossible things before."

Hearing someone express such faith in the "invincible" Third Child normally would have driven her up a wall, but for once, Asuka Langley Soryu found herself hoping that the baka really was that impossible to kill.

* * *

Birdy Cephon Altera was on a space ship. As was often the case in the blackness between stars, it was utterly impossible to tell the time without the aid of a clock.

She blinked, caught by surprise even though she'd been waiting for this to happen. One minute she'd been dozing, and the next she'd slipped into this place as easily as if it were a dream.

Shaking her head to clear it, she looked forward…and gasped at what she saw.

Standing a few feet in front of her was a younger version of herself. She was the spitting image of Birdy when she'd been a young child, and she had her head bowed so that her eyes were covered by her bangs.

That wasn't what had so shocked the Altarian, though. No, it was because the younger Birdy was wearing the _exact_ same clothing she herself had worn on that terrible day. There were even small spots of blood on her face and clothing, Birdy noticed with horror.

Forcing her emotions down, Birdy spoke. "Hello, Untouchable."

"I don't know what an Untouchable is," the child said. "I'm Birdy Cephon Altera."

"The hell you are," Birdy growled. "I know you're the thing that swallowed EVA Unit One whole."

Little Birdy chuckled. "Perhaps I am, but in the end, does it really make a difference? Does what I have to say lose any of its weight and meaning because I'm not you?"

"I don't give a damn what you have to say no matter what you are," Birdy snapped.

Little Birdy tittered. It was an extremely disturbing sound for some reason. "Always so belligerent, Birdy," she said. "It's no wonder that people call you 'Birdy the Berserker.'"

Birdy scowled. "Shut the hell up and let us out of here. Put Unit One back where you found it."

"Hmm…no," the little girl said, then giggled. "I like it right where it is, thank you. Now, let's go back to talking about you."

Birdy considered lunging at the Angel, then thought the better of it. She'd hold back, for now, anyway.

"You," the little girl continued, "live for vengeance. You call it justice to make yourself feel better, but you know as well as I do that, at the end of the day, it's really simple revenge you desire. It has driven your life ever since you lost Violene—"

"Don't you _dare_ say her name!" Birdy hissed.

The child ignored her. "What happens, should you finally achieve your goal, hmm? What then? What happens when the purpose that has driven you since you were a little girl is gone?"

"Shut up," Birdy growled.

"In hating Christella Revi so much, you have come to need her," little Birdy said, smirking. "You need her to justify your very existence."

"That's not true," Birdy objected.

"Isn't it, though?" the child asked. "Everything that you _are_, you are because of Revi. Federation officer. Birdy the Mighty. Birdy the Berserker. Do you believe you ever would have become any of these things if not for Revi's influence? You exist through your loathing of her. Will you cease to exist after you have made her pay for her crimes?"

Birdy swallowed. This…_thing_ in front of her knew just what spots to strike, knew exactly how to throw her off balance. She needed backup.

"Shinji?" she whispered.

Despite how softly she spoke, little Birdy still heard her. The child laughed maliciously. "He can't hear you," she said. "I realized that two souls existed within your body after last time and split my own consciousness so I could speak with you both at the same time."

_Crap!_ Birdy thought.

"It really did surprise me," little Birdy continued. "I never before believed that your vessels were 'big' enough to hold two souls."

"The wonders of modern technology," Birdy quipped on impulse.

Little Birdy shrugged. "If you say so," she said. "My kind has never had a need for such crude stuff."

"_Your_ kind are little more than enormous beasts," Birdy practically snarled.

Little Birdy laughed loudly. "Don't try to beat me at my own game," she said. "You won't win. My kind has always known what _we_ exist for."

"All right, then," Birdy said. "Let's play _my_ game."

She lunged at her little doppelganger, intending to pick the girl up and slam her against the wall.

The little girl leapt nimbly out of the way, and then, to add injury to insult, kicking Birdy hard in the shin. The Altarian hissed in pain.

"You can't win that, either," little Birdy said smugly. "Part of me _is_ you. I know what you're about to do. When you're going to attack."

"Really?" Birdy asked with a mocking tone as she prepared to play her last card. "Then do you know that I'm about to do this?"

* * *

Within the confines of the entry plug, Birdy Cephon's unconscious body shifted and warped until the unconscious body of Shinji Ikari lay in its place.

* * *

"But when I pilot the EVA, people are nice to me!" Shinji shouted, desperation clear in his voice by this point. "What's wrong with wanting to be treated nicely?!"

His younger counterpart shook his head, looking very disappointed. "You cannot use such external means to justify your own existence, because someday, those means may not be there. _Will_ not be there," he said. "Will you dedicate your whole life to earning praise from others, regardless of what you must do?"

Shinji opened his mouth to answer but was spared from further debate when he realized that everything was black around him. Before he could fully register this abrupt change, he suddenly found himself sitting on the floor of a room that looked somewhat similar to the inside of Birdy's ship.

Before him stood a young Birdy, who was spotted with blood for reasons he couldn't guess at.

"How did you get here?" the girl snapped.

"I…I don't know," Shinji stammered, rising to his feet.

"Go back to where you were!" young Birdy demanded.

"I can't," Shinji said. "I don't know how!"

The young girl clearly wasn't about to take no for an answer. She marched right up to him and punched him in the stomach before he could even attempt to dodge.

The Third Child released a wordless scream of pain and doubled over, surprised that his organs had apparently not ruptured from the force of the blow.

But she wasn't done yet. Little Birdy grabbed hold of him and effortlessly hoisted him above her head, then _flung_ him. Shinji flew a good several yards before he landed on the hard floor, bouncing once before he came to a stop, groaning in agony.

_I am getting my ass handed to me by a _little girl! He thought.

Shinji had never thought of himself as a tough guy. Quite the contrary, in fact, but being beaten up by a girl of less than half his age was still a significant blow to his ego. He immediately decided that, on the off chance he somehow survived this ordeal, that this particular incident was going on the list of things he'd never divulge to anyone. Ever.

It could go right under his presence during the photo shoot Birdy had done for Kensuke and Toji.

He was vaguely aware of the girl picking him up again. The Third Child closed his eyes and braced himself, but it did little good as he crashed into a wall, feeling like his bones were being reduced to dust.

He supposed he shouldn't be so surprised. Birdy was so incredibly strong, it was a small wonder that she still had the strength to manhandle him, even as a little girl.

Still, he had the vague sense that this wasn't really Birdy, and perhaps that physical strength might not matter much in this clash.

Yet even so, it was no great shock to him that he was losing. After all, he had never been the one in charge of the forced union between himself and Birdy. They were only ever 'him' because she allowed it, not because he had the means to wrest control of their body from her grasp.

While this little girl might not truly be Birdy, it was clearly some kind of reflection of her, and it obviously had enough of her strength to overpower him.

Then there was the fact that he simply wasn't used to fighting without using his EVA, which couldn't be helping.

However, he remembered what he had been told.

_I mustn't give up,_ he thought. _I mustn't run away!_

Despite his certainty that it was futile, Shinji struggled to his feet.

* * *

The world crumbled around Birdy, and when it reformed, she wasn't on the space ship any longer. Instead, she was on a mag-lev train, and it was sunset.

With a roar, she threw herself at the little boy who sat across the aisle from her, and this time she got better results. He tried to dodge but wasn't fast enough, and Birdy was able to grab two handfuls of his striped shirt and hoist him up into the air.

No longer with his back to the bright sun, little Shinji's face was finally clearly visible. Birdy's eyes widened when she saw it. He mostly looked exactly like she'd picture a younger Shinji, except for his eyes. The cornea were bright red, just like those of Rei Ayanami.

Little Shinji didn't let her moment of distraction pass him by. He kicked her in the chest with both legs, and Birdy let out a gasp and dropped him as the wind was forced out of her lungs by the impact. The kid was a lot stronger than Shinji would have been at that age. In fact, he was stronger than Shinji was _now._

However, Birdy wasn't known as "the Mighty" in some circles for nothing. Before the Angel in a child's skin could capitalize on his minor victory, Birdy grabbed hold of one of the metal poles meant for passengers who were forced to stand and ripped it free. She swung it at the boy, striking him in the skull with it. His head rang like a bell and he collapsed.

"Let's try this again," Birdy growled, picking him up with one hand and this time holding him far enough away that he couldn't strike her.

"How did you _do_ that?" little Shinji demanded.

"Hmph, that's for me to know and you to find out," Birdy said. "So, _now_ are you more willing to talk about letting Unit One go?"

The boy laughed derisively. "No."

Birdy pressed him against the wall and then brought the metal pole up to his throat. "How about now?"

Little Shinji just smirked. "Go ahead," he replied. "I don't die unless both halves of me are destroyed. Can you say the same, child of a Black Moon?"

* * *

"I have to admit," little Birdy said, "you are surprisingly resilient for a lilin. However, your resistance is ultimately futile."

She kicked him again, and Shinji, who barely stand at this point, toppled over like a ton of bricks. Before he could try and get back to his feet, the little girl was kneeling on his chest. She wrapped her small but strong fingers and squeezed.

Shinji grabbed hold of her wrists and tried to wrench her hands away, but it was useless. He might as well try to move pillars of stone or bend metal beams.

The Third Child's vision began to dim, then tunnel. A strange peace, similar to the tranquility he'd experienced just before Birdy had bonded with him, came over Shinji. He wondered if Birdy could survive him dying this way. He hoped she could.

_At least there'll be no more pain after this,_ he thought.

"YOU WILL NOT KILL MY SON!" Roared a woman's voice from behind them.

"Huh?" Shinji wheezed out, his surprise reviving him slightly.

A white, spectral and clearly female form came into view from behind the young Birdy. The malevolent little girl turned to look at the specter and gasped in horror.

It was all she had time to do. The white form placed a hand upon her, and the little Birdy practically exploded, bursting into a cloud of dust which vanished before it could reach the floor.

The white form hovered over him, and Shinji felt loved as he never had before under her kind gaze.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Shinji could only manage a nod in response.

"Well, that's good for you."

After that, the world went white.

* * *

"How much time until the mine drop?" Asuka asked.

Rei resisted the urge to sigh in annoyance. Asuka had posed that question at least once every five minutes for the past several hours.

"Approximately four hours," Rei answered.

Asuka opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off when the ground beneath her feet began to shake. She frowned. "What the hell?"

Both EVA pilots noticed a great burst of sudden activity from the NERV personnel nearby, as well as a lot of frenzied shouting. The two girls traded a brief look and then went sprinting toward the respective Evangelions. Apparently, the Angel was on the move again.

They didn't even get to close to their waiting war machines before the shadow, the true Angel, began to crack, ruby liquid bursting from the fissures.

"What the hell?!" Asuka exclaimed again as she and Rei slowed to a walk.

"I…I believe it is Shinji," Rei said, her scarlet eyes uncharacteristically wide.

The sphere above the Angel had become completely black. A crack formed along the side, and a single hand burst out, dripping with blood so dark it was nearly brown.

Everyone stood speechless as Unit One clawed its way out of the Angel. As it fought its way back into the world of light and air, the restraints holding its great jaw shattered, allowing the mighty Evangelion to open its mouth and release a fearsome roar that seemed to cause the whole world to tremble. The streets below it were showered in blood as it emerged.

"Mein Gott in Himmel," Asuka breathed. "Do I pilot a monster like that?"

Rei made no response to that.

The sphere and shadow shattered with a final explosion of blood, and Unit One leapt to the ground, still drenched in the life fluids of its fallen foe. Frightening as it was normally, the violet berserker was still more terrifying than it had ever been.

Then it kneeled down and its eyes went dark as it deactivated. Part of the armor on its upper back moved, and the entry plug popped out, its hatch opening moments later. From where they were, Asuka and Rei could just make out Shinji letting down a rope ladder and starting to clumsily climb down.

Asuka and Rei took off running toward Unit One, heedless of the massive puddle of blood they had to go through. However, they weren't the first to reach the Third Child; the Operations Director beat them there easily, arriving just as he made it to the ground.

"Shinji-kun!"

The Third Child wavered on his feet suddenly, and Misato grabbed him before he collapsed to the ground, not caring how she got LCL on her clothes.

"Shinji-kun?"

He looked up at her, his eyes unfocused. "O-Okaasan," he mumbled softly.

After that, his eyelids drifted closed, and he was still. Misato blinked. Had he just called her…?

Then she heard voice approaching, and she quickly snapped out of her thoughts. "He's unconscious!" she shouted. "Somebody get a gurney! _Now!_"

* * *

Shinji awoke gradually, becoming aware of the soft but slightly scratchy surface he was laying upon before he opened his eyes. The feeling immediately made him realize where he was, namely a bed in the NERV Medical ward.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and was faced with the too familiar sight of the ward's ceiling.

_I hate this—_

He cut himself off in mid thought when the ceiling was suddenly obscured by the sight of a certain redhead looking down at him. He started in surprise.

"You're awake!" Asuka exclaimed.

"Uh, yeah," Shinji said, sitting up in bed. Asuka was seated next to one side of his bed, and Rei was by the other, he saw.

"What _happened_ to you in there?" Asuka asked.

"Huh?" Shinji asked, not feeling completely awake quite yet.

"You're all covered in bruises, and you look like someone tried to strangle you!" Asuka said, pointing at his neck.

Shinji brought up a hand and gingerly stroked his throat. It was extremely tender, and his minds eye painted it a horrible black and blue. A quick examination of himself showed that he did indeed have a number of bad bruises where the fake Birdy had struck him.

_Well that's a surprise,_ he thought numbly.

"How did all that happen?" Asuka asked again.

"Uh…" Shinji stammered, at a loss as to how to explain any of his injuries without telling them about Birdy.

**Play dumb,** the Altarian said. **You can't trip yourself up with a fake story if there **_**is**_** no fake story.**

He shook his head. "I don't really remember anything."

Asuka nodded seeming to accept this. "Shinji?"

"Yes?"

The Second Child hesitated for a long moment, then turned away, breaking eye contact. "It looks like I owe you again, Ikari," she said.

Rei gave Asuka a look but didn't say anything to her. Instead, she turned to Shinji. "We'll handle everything today," she said. "You can just rest."

"But I feel fine," Shinji said.

"Well, that's good for you," Rei said.

Shinji's eyes widened as Asuka and Rei left the room. _No, _he thought as he lay back on the bed. _It couldn't be. It's just a coincidence._

**Shinji?** Birdy spoke up. **How **_**did**_** we get out of there?**

"I don't know," Shinji answered, feeling like he wasn't being completely dishonest.

After all, he might have an idea, but he certainly didn't _know_.

**Hmm, okay,** Birdy said, not sounding like she believed him entirely, but not about to press. **I guess the important thing is that we survived that somehow.**

"Yeah," Shinji agreed, voice distant as he looked up at the ceiling and became lost in his thoughts.

* * *

Author's Notes: Okay, first of all, yes, I know that the sync test where Shinji surpassed Asuka in canon happened just before the Twelfth showed up, and thus after the events of episode 15. I flubbed that bit.

Anyway, yeah, I realize I didn't drift very far from canon in terms of the final conclusion to the Twelfth Angel. I admit that for a good while, I had no damn idea what to do with the Twelfth Angel. Then it occurred to me that there being two minds inside Shinji's head might throw it for a loop, and this chapter was born.

Animefan, Gendo certainly doesn't trust Revi completely. He's taken some precautions as was mentioned here. However, their goals are far from mutually exclusive. Revi wouldn't even care if Gendo destroys the world, since she can just leave the planet. As a result, Gendo's not terrifically paranoid, since he can't see Revi as having motive to backstab him.

As always, thanks for to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omake

Too Much Neuralizer

"Lead the way, Agent P," Birdy said.

Pen-Pen nodded and led the Altarian into the hallway. It was a short trip, and one would have expected it to be uneventful.

"Who the hell are you?!" Misato exclaimed. "And Pen-Pen, why are you wearing those sunglasses?"

But apparently, the Ops Director had emerged from her bedroom for a midnight snack (or a midnight beer).

"Uh oh," Birdy said.

Pen-Pen just sighed. "Would you close your eyes, please?" he asked Birdy.

The Federation officer did as he was asked, and Pen-Pen withdrew a small, metal cylinder from somewhere. A flash of light filled the kitchen, and suddenly Misato's eyes went unfocused.

"You came to the kitchen, saw nothing, decided you didn't want a beer after all, then went back to bed," Pen-Pen said. "You did not see your pet penguin wearing sunglasses or a young woman with pink and white hair."

Misato nodded dumbly and stumbled away.

**Ask him how many times he's done that to her,** Shinji said, more than a little disturbed by what he'd just witnessed.

"Uh, how many times have you had to do that to her?" Birdy asked.

Pen-Pen sighed. "I lost count a long time ago."

Birdy winced. "Are there any lasting effects from having that done to her so many times?"

"She used to be one of the best cooks in the city," Pen-Pen answered regretfully.

Birdy's eyes widened. "Whoa."

"Yeah," Pen-Pen sighed. "After that happened, I had to hunt down everyone she'd cooked for and neuralize them so they'd think her culinary skills were always that terrible. It was a pain the ass! Plus, my own food was god awful until Shinji showed up."

"Oh," was all Birdy could think to say.

Pen-Pen went to his fridge and pushed a hidden button. The door swung open, revealing what looked like an elevator car.

Shinji, who'd actually looked inside this fridge once and seen a miniature but surprisingly nice apartment inside, briefly considered telling Birdy to ask Agent P how this transformation was pulled off.

Then he decided the answer might shatter his fragile little mind and held his peace.

Pen-Pen stepped inside, followed by Birdy. It was a tight fit, but they managed to get the door closed.

"Going down," Pen-Pen said, pushing a button.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Eight: **Anger**

The solitary confinement cells located within the bowels of NERV headquarters were all cold, gloomy and miserable.

Which was usually appropriate, since most of the people who got thrown inside one spent their time there feeling cold, gloomy, miserable or some combination of the three.

This day, however, the current occupant of the cell felt little besides white hot rage.

"That bastard," Shinji Ikari growled. "That murderous _bastard_!"

He lashed out with his foot as he shouted, kicking the cell door. This resulted in a dull _clang_ and pain shooting up his leg.

**Stop that!** Birdy scolded. **You're going to hurt yourself!**

Shinji just grunted in response, but he did stumble over to the hard bunk (it was more of a shelf, really) and sat down.

**Shinji…** Birdy said after a few seconds. **I'm so sorry.**

He chuckled mirthlessly. "Yeah, I'm sorry, too. Hell, I'm _always_ sorry about something," he said bitterly. "But when something like this happens, sorry doesn't make a damn bit of difference."

Birdy had no response to that, so she simply kept silent. Soon, both their minds drifted inevitably back to the horrors of the previous day.

* * *

The Third Child felt his airways closing as Evangelion Unit Three, possessed by the Thirteenth Angel, gripped his own EVA's throat and squeezed fiercely, obviously intending to choke the life from both pilot and war machine.

His fingers itched with the desire to shove EVA Three off and regain the ability to breathe, but he just couldn't do it. He was only too conscious of the fact that inside the black Evangelion was another kid, just like himself, who'd probably been forced into the thing with little more gentleness than he had been.

He had no idea who exactly was trapped inside Unit Three's entry plug, but already the Third Child sympathized with the Fourth, perhaps even felt he understood him.

He couldn't murder someone like that.

"Pilot Ikari, why aren't you fighting?" his father demanded over the radio.

"I can't kill another human," he croaked. "I won't."

His father made some reply, but Shinji couldn't make out a word of it over the sound of Birdy's shout.

**Damn it, Shinji? What did I tell you about never giving up!?** The Altarian snapped.

"I don't care," he responded. "I won't kill the Fourth Child."

**Have you forgotten that I'm in here with you, and that if you die, I die?** Birdy demanded. **You have **_**no**_** right to commit suicide on my behalf!**

Shinji blinked, not having considered that.

He felt a wave of nausea as this realization sunk in. Regardless of whether or not he fought, it looked like he was going to end up killing someone. Never in life had he been faced with such a terrible situation before.

And for Shinji Ikari, that was really saying something.

"Pilot Ikari, you must fight!" his father snapped.

Shinji barely heard him, still debating the terrible choice he had. Birdy or the Fourth Child?

Much as he sympathized with the person he imagined the Fourth Child to be, he couldn't sacrifice Birdy, not when she'd done so much to preserve his existence, and certainly not after he'd so recently almost gotten them both killed.

"You're right," he whispered.

He was speaking to Birdy rather than his father, of course, but NERV didn't know that, and there were numerous surprised (though relieved) exclamations in the command center.

The Third Child grabbed hold of the control yokes, and EVA One grabbed onto its attackers wrists, wrenching its hands away. Shinji took a deep breath and was disappointed when he got a lungful of LCL rather than air.

Unit One kneed the Thirteenth Angel hard in the abdomen, causing it to double over. Before it could recover, Shinji twined Unit One fingers together and brought its huge hands down, striking Unit Three in the back and causing it to fall down face first..

The impact caused the ground to shake and left an EVA shaped imprint in the earth.

Unit One immediately dropped to its knees and began clawing at Unit Three's upper back, desperately trying to remove the entry plug.

"What are you doing?" his father demanded instantly.

"I'm trying to save the pilot!" Shinji replied, wondering why the man had even needed to ask.

"Your orders are to terminate the Angel, not to rescue the Fourth Child," Gendo said, voice frosty. "Such a rescue invites too many risks. Obey my orders."

"No!" Shinji snapped.

* * *

Shortly after that, the Commander had activated the Dummy System, taking control of Unit One out of Shinji's hands completely. Under the command of the incomplete auto-pilot system, his Evangelion had torn apart the Thirteenth Angel with incredible savagery. And his father waited until well after the Angel's waveform pattern had disappeared to turn the accursed thing off.

Shinji got up off his bunk and punched one of the walls, though this time with enough restraint to ensure he didn't hurt himself. He just bet that his father had been _waiting_ for a chance to turn the Dummy System on, and with Akagi not around to protest, the man had leaped upon an easy excuse to do so.

"Damn it," he whispered vehemently.

After Gendo had _finally_ ordered the system deactivated, and the battle was over, Shinji at last learned the identity of the Fourth Child.

Toji Suzuhara.

Seeing his best friend lying there, battered, badly mangled and quite possibly dead had caused something inside of him to snap. He had marched Unit One back to headquarters, deciding that if his father didn't tell him _exactly_ what he wanted to hear, then he would level the NERV pyramid.

Birdy had tried to stop him, attempting to use her ability to control him when it became clear she wasn't going to be able to talk him out of it. However, his molten rage had for once made him the stronger one in their union.

It had taken his father to stop him. Gendo had, in typical Gendo fashion, utterly refused to apologize or give his son any other form of satisfaction, instead ordering that the pressure of the LCL in Shinji's entry plug be raised to maximum.

He had passed out, and when he awoke in NERV Medical, he'd immediately been brought to a cell.

"Birdy?" he spoke up after an interminable silence.

**Yeah?**

"You can attack Revi, if you want," he said.

**Wha…what?** She asked, obviously taken aback by this statement, which seemingly came from nowhere.

"I'm giving you my permission to attack Terminal Dogma to get to Revi," he said. "So long as we head up to my father's office once you're done down there."

In truth, he didn't even feel like he needed this concession from her. He would have agreed to storm Terminal Dogma even if Birdy refused to help him get back at his father, because he felt certain that ruining Revi's plans would hurt his father.

He no longer had any doubt that Gendo Ikari was in cahoots with the alien crime boss.

Birdy was tempted, extremely tempted. She strongly suspected that she'd never get this go-ahead from Shinji again, and she knew how unlikely it was that Revi would blunder somehow and make herself vulnerable. The people in her employ whose mistakes had let Birdy get as far as she had were no doubt on a much shorter leash, now that Revi knew how close the Federation officer was getting.

And yet…

**No,** she said. **I'm not going on a suicide mission just because you're okay with getting dragged along right now.**

Shinji was shocked by this response.

"Then how will you get Revi?" the Third Child demanded.

**I'll think of something,** she said, trying to convince herself as much as him. **Or some opportunity will come up.**

"No, it won't," Shinji said darkly.

**Huh? Why do you say that?** Birdy asked.

"Because I'm getting the hell out of this horrible place and away from my bastard father as soon as they let me out of here!" Shinji exclaimed.

**What?! No, you can't do that! **Birdy protested. **My investigation will be ruined!**

"I don't have to cooperate with your investigation, and I can't stay here!" Shinji yelled. "If I can't do anything to bring that monster to justice, then I can't go on living here and working for NERV. I _can't!_"

**You have to!**

"I CAN'T!" he roared at the top of his lungs.

**Shinji…** Birdy began, then trailed off. She had never heard Shinji yell so loud before, or be so dead set about something.

The Third Child sighed, his rage expended, and sat down upon the hard bunk within his cell then ran his hands through his hair.

"They're going to hate me, you know," he said softly.

**Who?**

"Just about everyone," he answered miserably. "I had already crippled one Suzuhara. Toji forgave me for it and became my friend. And how do I repay him? I cripple him, too."

**But you didn't do it!** Birdy exclaimed. **You tried to save him! Your father and the dummy plug are the ones that did it!**

"But I wasn't able to stop it from happening," he said. "And it sure _felt_ like I was the one who did it." He added, clenching and unclenching his right hand.

**…you were still connected to EVA, even when the dummy plug was active?** Birdy asked, horrified.

"To an extent," Shinji answered. "I didn't have any ability to control it anymore, or if I did I just didn't try hard enough, but I could still feel what EVA felt, just like always."

**Shinji, you gave stopping that thing everything you had,** Birdy said. **Stopping it was completely beyond you. What happened to Toji is **_**not**_** your fault.**

He sighed. "I can tell myself that a thousand times, but I'll never believe it, not really," he said. "Not when I can remember feeling Unit Three's blood on my hands, or what it felt like when its skull shattered beneath my fist, or when I—"

**Stop!** Birdy shouted.

Shinji did, but before she could say anything else, he added, "I just can't stay here. It's just…impossible. I can't do it any more than I can break down the door to this cell. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is."

Birdy was silent for a long moment, carefully weighing her options.

She could threaten him. While her control over him wasn't nearly fine enough to allow her to make him remain as a member of NERV and stay in the city against his will without everyone quickly realizing that something was wrong, she _could_ make his life hell.

She could try to appeal to his concerns for his friends and humanity in general. Tokyo-3 and perhaps Earth itself would likely suffer grievously if Revi were allowed to complete her plans, something of which she knew he'd become very aware. Perhaps all she needed to was remind him. She could, in short, try and guilt him into staying.

She could point out that while he could run from NERV and Tokyo-3, it was physically impossible for him to run from _her_. And she could make him regret abandoning his post far more than his conscience alone could.

In the end, she opted to do none of these things.

**Shinji, listen to me. I'll make a deal with you, **she said. **If you don't leave Tokyo-3 and keep cooperating with my investigation, then once the war is over and I have Revi, I will do everything in my power to help you in making your father pay for his crimes. I don't care what risks we'll have to take, or how many of the rules and regulations I'll have to break. On my honor as a Federation officer, I swear to you, we will bring him to justice.**

"Why do we have to wait until the war's over?" he asked.

**Your whole world could die otherwise,** Birdy pointed out, a trace of coldness appearing in her tone.

Shinji didn't really care about that at the moment. However, even in his current state, he was aware of just how petty and spiteful he'd sound if he told Birdy as much. He considered her offer for several long, dark minutes.

"It's a deal," he said at last.

No sooner had the bargain been struck than did Shinji hear the tumblers within his cell door turning. Seconds later, the heavy door was pulled open, and light poured into the tiny cell, causing him to wince.

"Pilot Ikari," a member of Section Two spoke, "the Commander wants to see you."

Before he could respond, a pair of triple layered handcuffs were fastened around his wrists, and he was dragged out into the hallway well before his eyes had time to adjust to the light.

He was almost relieved when they reached his father's office; the massive room was dim enough that it didn't hurt his eyes.

"The Third Child, sir," the Section Two agent announced him, rather unnecessarily.

"Leave us," Gendo said curtly.

"Sir," the Section Two agent replied, quickly departing.

Gendo Ikari didn't speak for a long, long moment after the man left the two of them alone. Instead, he merely stared at his son, eyes boring into the Third Child.

Shinji looked back and willed himself not to flinch.

The strength necessary to break out of the cuffs that held him and make his father pay dwelled within his body, Shinji knew, but all of it belonged to Birdy. It was maddening.

"Blatant insubordination, illegally commandeering a tremendously expensive piece of NERV hardware, mutiny and threatening to destroy NERV property," Gendo spoke at last. "All of these are heinous crimes. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Shinji was flabbergasted. His father had callously forced his own son to experience murdering his best friend, yet _he_ had to explain himself to _Gendo_?

He hadn't expected his father to offer _him_ any kind of apology or explanation, of course, but this was far too much.

"Well?" Gendo demanded after a few moments had passed.

"I…I lost control of myself," Shinji sputtered, still feeling stunned. "I still want to remain and pilot EVA until the war's over."

Unnoticed by either Shinji or Birdy, Gendo's eyes widened slightly. This was not what he'd expected from his son at all.

Gendo folded his hands and leaned his face on them. "You want me to allow you to return to duty as if nothing ever happened?" he asked. "After you threatened to destroy headquarters with your EVA? Despite you not showing one shred of remorse for your actions?"

Shinji's eyes slid shut as he realized _exactly_ what the price of retaining his status as an EVA pilot was going to be. It was something he did all the time (far too much, in fact, according to certain German redheads), so he was well practiced at it.

But he'd be damned if he was going to apologize to his father without so much as a glimmer of remorse over Toji's fate in return.

**Just do it,** Birdy whispered. **You'll get the last laugh, but not if you don't hold your nose and apologize to the bastard.**

Shinji took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he forced out through clenched teeth. "I shouldn't have threatened NERV the way I did. It was inexcusable."

"Indeed," Gendo agreed. "However, the paucity of available EVA pilots means that NERV must still make use of you. Your sentence for these crimes is suspended. You may go. Someone from Section Two will remove the handcuffs."

Shinji wordlessly turned and left the office.

**Don't worry, Shinji,** Birdy reassured him. **He'll get his, I promise you.**

* * *

"This whole thing is seriously screwed up," Asuka proclaimed.

"To what exactly are you referring?" Rei asked, even though she already had a pretty good idea.

The two girls were in their locker room at NERV, changing out of their plug suits and back into their regular clothes after some tests.

"Everything," Asuka replied. "Nothing about the last battle made any Gott damn sense!"

Rei had to admit that the actions of both Shinji and Commander Ikari were somewhat confusing to her.

"Did you know that there are insane rumors going around about the Third?" Asuka asked before Rei could make any kind of reply to her earlier statement.

"Pilot Ikari was only released from confinement yesterday," Rei said, surprised.

"Yeah, it didn't take everyone at NERV very long," Asuka said darkly. "I overheard some junior techie saying that she'd heard the Commander is gonna have Shinji lobotomized. And she sounded relieved!"

"I'm sure she was misinformed," Rei said, then carefully added, " I must admit to being…surprised that you're so angry on Pilot Ikari's behalf."

Asuka sighed. "It's just pissing me off that they're all turning on their former golden boy so quickly. It makes me wonder how close they are to all turning on me," she admitted, eyes downcast.

Rei just nodded. In truth, she didn't understand Asuka's fears, but that was because the people who walked the halls of NERV had whispered about her behind her back for as long as she could remember. She'd never cared.

"Pilot Ikari did threaten to destroy headquarters," Rei said mildly. "Such an action would have killed hundreds of people who had nothing to do with the Dummy Plug's activation."

"Yeah, I know, but…" she hesitated, searching for the right words but couldn't quite find them. "It's just not fair."

"What do you mean?" Rei asked.

Both girls had stopped dressing in the middle of the process by now. The conversation was quickly taking up all their attention.

"They only treat us like adults when it suits them," Asuka said, sounding both bitter and thoughtful at once. "Want to drive? Too bad, you're too young. Want to drink? No way, you're just a kid. Want to see someone older than you? Hell no! You're just a child. But when it comes to EVA, we're always expected to behave like adults."

"I do not understand how this relates to Shinji," Rei said.

"It's simple," Asuka said, scowling. "They put us under enough to pressure to push adult, professional soldiers to their limits. Then one of us snaps and has to be knocked out, and—surprise, surprise—it's the one who wasn't even raised to be a pilot like the two of us. Is he 'just a kid' then? Is he just throwing a 'temper tantrum' then? Hell no! Now he's dangerous and needs to be restrained. The hypocrisy of it is disgusting!"

Rei arched an eyebrow, strongly suspecting that Asuka had dwelled on this issue many times in the past. However, there was a certain logic to her argument.

Asuka sighed, visibly calming down. "I really needed to get that out," she confessed. "Thanks for letting me vent, Rei. There's not a lot of people I can talk about this stuff with."

"…you're welcome," Rei replied, not at all sure what she was receiving gratitude for.

From her perspective, she'd done little more than stand there.

"You know what really confuses me about this whole thing, though?" Asuka asked as she resumed dressing.

"What?" Rei asked.

"The way Shinji seemed like he was ready to die to save the Fourth Child, then changed his mind just because the Commander told him to," Asuka answered. "He was so resolute one second, and then he suddenly does a complete one-eighty."

"It is strange," Rei said.

"Yeah," Asuka mused, as she tied the red ribbon on the front of her uniform. "I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. He's been acting weird for months."

"How so?" Rei asked.

"He talks to himself when he thinks no one's watching. He disappears for hours at a time," Asuka said. "There are a bunch of other little things, too."

"Perhaps you should report this to NERV Medical, or to the Major," Rei advised.

"I don't want to give NERV any more excuse to call Shinji crazy," Asuka said, "and I pointed out his disappearances to Misato a while ago."

"How did she respond?" Rei asked.

Asuka rolled her eyes. "She thinks he's gotten a girlfriend hidden somewhere and that he's visiting her when he vanishes like that."

_Talk about projecting her own happiness onto other people,_ Asuka thought.

"You don't believe this to be the case?" Rei asked.

"No," Asuka answered. "He never looks even remotely happy when he comes back. I can't believe that even he would go to all the time and effort to keep up some hidden relationship if he's not enjoying it."

Rei paused for a moment, considering the situation. "Why don't you ask him where he goes and what troubles him?" she suggested.

"I'll probably have to," Asuka said with a sigh, "since no one _else_ will, but not now. He's still angry as all hell right now. I need to wait for him to calm down a little first."

"In that case, I wish you luck when you do finally make the endeavor," Rei said.

"Thanks," Asuka said.

With that, the two girls left the locker room.

* * *

**Shouldn't you be heading back to the apartment?** Birdy asked.

"Probably," Shinji answered as he walked, directionless, through the halls of NERV.

He didn't want to go home, though. Going home meant having to again endure Misato telling him that it was okay, that it wasn't his fault, and that he was very brave for staying to continue the fight.

So far as he was concerned though, it _wasn't_ okay, it _was_ his fault, and he was only staying so he could eventually bring his father to justice. Getting praised by Misato for remaining only made him feel ashamed.

**All this anger and angst isn't going to make anything better, you know,** Birdy chided.

"Can it," Shinji muttered.

The Third Child simply wasn't used to having so much anger boiling so close to the surface. He didn't know how to deal with it aside from running away, which wasn't an option.

Just holding up his end of the deal with Birdy had been one of the most difficult things he'd ever had to do. He wasn't about to give Birdy any freebies. If he wanted to stalk through the halls of NERV, then he would, regardless of what the Altarian wanted.

He turned a corner and came into a small room full of vending machines. Standing next to one of them was a certain Special Inspector with a ponytail and a perpetual five o'clock shadow.

"Hello there, Shinji," Kaji greeted him, sounding surprisingly cheerful.

"Uh, hi," Shinji responded.

"So, what are you up to?" Kaji asked.

"Nothing really," Shinji admitted.

"Ah," Kaji said, seeming not at all perturbed by this. "Well, can I buy you a drink? Cup of tea?"

Shinji frowned. "Kaji…I'm a guy."

The spy laughed, then without another word, fed some money into one of the machines, causing it to spit out a can of soda. He handed Shinji the drink, then said, "Come with me. There's something I want to show you."

The Third Child hesitated, strongly suspecting that Kaji, too, would try to console him. Since he didn't want that, he was strongly tempted to tell the man to piss off. However, he was still Shinji, and Shinji didn't do that to people.

With a mental sigh, he followed the spy. Kaji led him out of the NERV pyramid, then off a distance into the grassy fields of the Geofront. After a few minutes, they finally reached their destination.

"A melon patch?" Shinji asked.

"Yup," Kaji said, picking up a watering can and giving the plants a sprinkle. "I know it doesn't exactly fit in with my reputation, but I can't tell you how relaxing I find it."

"Okay…" Shinji said slowly, not sure how else to respond.

Kaji smirked slightly, amused at the boy's awkwardness. "Do you mind if I ask you something?" he asked, cutting to the chase.

Shinji shrugged. "Go ahead."

"Why are you still here?" Kaji asked.

"Huh?"

Kaji shrugged. "You're clearly not happy here."

A million different sarcastic remarks to that colossal understatement jumped to the forefront of Shinji's mind, but he suppressed them.

"No," he agreed, "I'm not."

"So I was wondering why you're still here," Kaji said. "I have to say, if I were as miserable as you clearly are, I might be tempted to start thinking that I'd done my part and start packing my bags."

Shinji's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know?" he asked. "Isn't it enough that I am staying?"

"I suppose I just like to know things," Kaji said, then chuckled. "Probably too much for my own good."

"Look, I…I don't know why I'm staying, all right?" Shinji lied. "I just am."

Kaji gave the Third Child a speculative look. "Are you sure about that?" he asked. "You're sure it's not so you can get back in the plug, and make…second attempts at things you tried to do before?"

"No!" Shinji snapped indignantly. "I'm not planning on trying to destroy headquarters again."

"All right," Kaji said calmly.

Shinji blinked. "You believe me?" he asked. "Just like that?"

Kaji nodded. "Just like that," he said. "It was a concern I had, so I to ask. I see no reason to interrogate you about it, though. I believe you to be a man of your word, Mr. Ikari."

Shinji found himself feeling absurdly flattered by this statement.

Suddenly, before he could come up with any kind of response, his cell phone went off. Incredulous, the Third Child pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID screen.

It was NERV.

_No way,_ he thought. _The last Angel attacked just a couple of days ago!_

Still, NERV didn't ever call him for any other reason.

"Sorry, but I have to go," he told Kaji, then took off running toward headquarters, nearly forgetting to actually answer his phone as he went.

* * *

"All personnel, go to first stage alert," Makoto ordered. "Prepare for surface to air interception!"

"Target status?" Fuyutski demanded.

"It's broken through our perimeter!" Aoba reported. "The Komagatake Defense line has been shattered!"

Outside, the bulky form of the Fourteenth Angel floated slowly into view. The instant it was in range of the city's intercept system, every available artillery battery opened up, unleashing trillions of yen worth of ballistics at the hostile.

It was all for naught. The Angel shrugged off all the state-of-the-art missiles and shells as though they were no more than mere gnats. Then its eyes in its skull like face flashed, and suddenly a cross shaped explosion erupted in Tokyo-3.

"The first eighteen layers of armor have been breached!" Makoto reported. "Unbelievable! Eighteen layers in one shot!"

The door to the command center suddenly hissed open, and the Ops Director strode in, her arm still in a sling from the disaster at Matsushiro. "Position Unit Two for combat inside the Geofront," she ordered at once. "We won't have time to position it on the surface before the Angel breaks through. What's Shinji's status?"

"You're late," Akagi scolded.

"Sorry, no excuses," Misato said curtly.

"Shinji's heading to the cages right now," Makoto answered Misato's earlier question. "He should make it in time for us to deploy Unit One before the shooting starts, if only just."

"Good," Misato said. "What about Unit Zero?"

"It's in the AT field null zone," Ritsuko answered, "but the left arm still hasn't been reattached."

"Then it's not ready," Misato said as she gazed at the image of the approaching Angel that was displayed upon the view screen.

* * *

Shinji was still panting slightly when Unit One went rocketing upwards toward the Geofront floor, having run all the way from Kaji's melon patch to the EVA cages.

"I was starting to wonder if you were coming," Asuka commented, opening up a communications window as soon as he'd reached the surface.

"I'm here, aren't I?" he replied as he picked up a pallet rifle.

"Enough chit-chat," Misato told them over the radio. "The Angel's going to break through any second now!"

"Roger," Shinji and Asuka replied as one, each pointing their guns toward the roof of the Geofront.

A plume of flame suddenly bloomed from the ceiling of the great cavern. When the fire and smoke had cleared, the slowly descending form of the Fourteenth Angel at last came into view.

It was huge. Very vaguely humanoid with tiny, thin arms, stubby legs, and a skull-like face, the mostly black and white form of the Fourteenth Angel _should_ have been ridiculous, almost comical.

Yet somehow, it was scary as hell.

Shinji and Asuka opened fire as soon as it was close enough for them to do more than waste ammunition. Though it might still have been far enough from the two EVA Units to use its AT field to deflect the bullets, it didn't do so, allowing the rounds strike its body in what seemed like it could only be a show of contempt. The enormous shells they used as bullets for the pallet rifles bounced off the Angel's armored hide like rainwater.

"Gott damn it," Asuka cursed, discarding her rifle as soon as they clicked empty. "Next!"

The German grabbed two new rifles and barely bothered to aim before she again started spraying lead at the Angel. Shinji's own weapon was spent only a second afterwards, and he grabbed a huge Gatling gun that fired higher caliber rounds than the pallet rifle. He was shocked at the force of the recoil but just gritted his teeth and endured it.

Still, the Angel kept coming.

"Next!" Asuka practically screamed, dropping the pallet rifles and switching to a pair of rocket launchers now.

Huge explosives went soaring toward the Angel as she pulled the triggers again and again, joining the nearly solid stream of bullets Shinji was sending at it. A great cloud of flame enveloped the beast…

…and then it faded, revealing that the Angel was unscathed.

"Damn it," Shinji hissed, as his Gatling gun ran out of ammo, the red hot cylinders starting to slow their spinning.

He felt a wave of frustration sweep over him, and it was enough to allow the ocean of rage he'd just barely been holding back to break free.

Evangelion Unit One dropped the enormous gun it held and began sprinting forward, toward the Angel. He felt the umbilical snap taut as he advanced and detached it with a quick thought, not even breaking stride.

"Shinji!" Misato shouted, and he thought Birdy might have as well.

Somehow, the Angel looked shocked that one of its enemies was daring to attack head on in such a manner.

It did not remain stunned for long, however. Its short arms unfurled, becoming thinner and much longer. Shinji didn't take notice, drawing Unit One's right fist back for a punch that could send the Angel flying back out of the Geofront.

Only the blow never landed. The Angel's arm wrapped itself around Unit One's right wrist, stopping it cold. Seconds later, the Angel's other arm snaked around the EVA's left wrist.

In the command center, a deep silence fell. Even Asuka didn't make a sound. None of them had ever seen Evangelion Unit One, the fearsome berserker, so soundly denied before.

Shinji was probably the only one who was nonplussed. He grabbed hold of the Angel's arms with his EVA's hands. Then, he unleashed a powerful kick with Unit One's size five hundred foot, sending it flying.

A horrible sort of tearing sound filled the Geofront as the Angel's arms were both ripped in two. The wounded monster landed on the ground a few seconds later and went bouncing across the landscape.

Shinji didn't give it a chance to catch its breath. Unit One was upon it before it could get up, raining blows down upon it.

"Whoa…" Asuka breathed, stunned by this display of ferocity.

The Angel's eyes lit up as it desperately readied a blast, but this time, Shinji noticed its preparations. He commanded Unit One's left shoulder pylon to open up and reveal his progressive knife.

The Fourteenth Angel released an _incredible_ shriek as EVA One buried its knife up to the hilt into one of its eye sockets.

It was music to the Third Child's ears.

And then, perhaps predictably, EVA Unit One went dead and lifeless.

"What?!" he gasped as he turned to his countdown timer and was greeted by the sight of four red zeroes. "No!"

**You've **_**got**_** to be kidding me,** Birdy groaned.

Shinji had to admit that this summed it up quite well.

* * *

"Damn it! How the hell did he expend his backup power that _fast_?!" Asuka demanded on no one in particular as she sent Unit Two forward.

The whole time, she silently berated herself for just standing around and watching like a complete idiot.

"Take _this_!" Asuka roared as her fist collided into the Angel's face.

The great beast staggered backwards but stopped after a few seconds, still upright. Its remaining eye lit up ominously.

Asuka wasn't any more willing to allow this than Shinji had been. Before it could fire off it attack, EVA Unit Two hunched over and crashed into the Angel, fiercely spearing the Angel and tackling it to the ground.

It shot a cross shaped blast of violet light up into the sky as it fell, completely missing its foe.

Asuka took a quick glance at her countdown clock to confirm that she still had plenty of time, silently cursing Shinji for moving this battle too far from headquarters to allow them to remain attached to umbilical cables.

Then she turned her attention back to foe.

The left shoulder pylon on Unit Two opened up, and the crimson titan gripped its progressive knife.

"Say goodnight!" Asuka shouted as she brought her knife down upon the Angel's core.

Sparks shot up from the red sphere, almost blinding the Second Child, but she just grit her teeth and kept up the pressure. The core was really tough, but she still felt almost giddy with excitement.

_I'm winning!_ She thought. _I'm fighting alone, and I'm winning!_

* * *

"God damn it!" Shinji screamed at the top of his lungs, slamming his fists down onto the control yokes.

**Shinji! It's not over! Asuka's still out there! Calm down!** Birdy urged.

"No!" he shouted. "No! Don't you see?! This is just like it always is! Nothing ever changes!"

**What are you **_**talking**_** about?** Birdy asked.

"I can never really do _anything_," he spat. "Everything just goes to hell no matter how hard I try to make it okay! Or things get even worse _because_ I tried to make it better. I decided I was going to kill this Angel, the only thing most people ever want out of me—the only reason most people ever _care_ about me—and I can't do it!"

**Shinji…**

"I'm tired of it!" he yelled. "I'm tired of feeling like the best I can do is not making things worse, damn it! Just once, I am going to do what I set out to do! I am going to kill this Angel!"

**…how? Your EVA's dead.**

"I don't know!" Shinji snapped. "And I don't care! I'm going to do it! I don't care what it takes! I'll do _anything_ to kill that thing!"

_THUMP THUMP_

The Third Child suddenly fell silent, looking around frantically for the source of the sound, which seemed to be the beating of an enormous heart.

**Shinji…what was that?** Birdy asked with obvious trepidation. **What did you do?**

"I…I don't know," Shinji admitted.

_THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP_

**My god…Shinji! Look at your hands!** Birdy exclaimed.

Shinji did, and his eyes widened in horror. The gloves of his plug suit were slack and empty, and the arms were starting to follow suit.

The Third Child screamed as the body which contained both his soul and that of Birdy Altera Cephon came apart and ceased to be.

* * *

_Why the hell won't you _break_ already?_ Asuka thought as she continued to apply pressure to the core.

All that stood between her and the victory that she craved, that she needed, was the integrity of that one sphere.

Suddenly, she spied movement from the corner of her eye and looked up to see what it was.

"What the _hell?_" she breathed, frowned as she watched Unit One getting back to its feet. "How is that even possible?"

The Angel somehow seemed to sense that its attacker was distracted. Its remaining eye lit up, and by the time Asuka looked back down at it, it was too late.

A blast of violet energy slammed directly into Unit Two, lifting it off the ground, and Asuka screamed as pain erupted within her body. It was even worse than the time she'd allowed her EVA to be showered in the Ninth Angel's acid.

Unit Two was thrown into the air by the force of the blast, but gravity reclaimed it soon enough. The scarlet EVA crashed back to the ground yet continued to slid across the forest floor for several seconds, its huge form digging a great trench across the Geofront floor.

Asuka groaned weakly as her EVA finally came to a stop, slowly turning her head to look at her countdown timer. She was just in time to watch it reach zero.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the command center, things were unsurprisingly on the verge of pandemonium.

"Unit Two's internal power has been expended!" Aoba shouted over the roar of the various klaxons that were sounding.

"Unit One has reactivated!" Maya exclaimed. "No, wait, this can't be right!"

"What?" Ritsuko demanded sharply.

"These readings are impossible!" Maya said. "It says that Shinji's sync ratio is at 400 percent!"

Ritsuko was about to say something, but she was cut off when Unit One threw its head back and roared loudly enough to shake the Geofront.

Still looking as calm and collected as ever as he sat on the highest tier of the command center, Gendo Ikari allowed himself to smile behind his folded hands.

Then, Unit One did a very curious thing. It gripped its head with both hands as though it was in great pain and roared again, but this roar seemed to be one of agony rather than bestial bloodlust.

The Angel, severely battered by now, turned to face the remaining Evangelion. Its remaining eye lit up once more.

Unit One gave no indication that it even realized that an Angel was there at all.

A blast of cross shaped energy lanced out and crashed into Unit One like a great battering ram made from purple light. The EVA was flung backwards, landing on its back over a half a kilometer from where it had been previously standing.

_Now_ Unit One seemed to realize that there was an enemy nearby. The EVA Unit got to its feet, and several pieces of armor suddenly burst off of its body, including the metal caps that covered its many pointed teeth.

The violet titan's eyes flashed with unholy white light, and it let out a ferocious battle cry as it sprinted toward its foe.

The Angel paused, seeming to realize just how huge a mistake it had made in striking Unit One.

Then the EVA slammed into the beast like a freight train, easily knocking it to the ground and leaving an Angel shaped crater where it fell. Before it had the chance to try and regroup, Unit One began to strike Angel with its fist, repeatedly hitting it with blows that could have leveled mountains.

And yet, the EVA appeared frantic and panicked, never hitting the same place twice, moving with great frenzy but little focus.

The Fourteenth Angel looked up, and its eye lit up.

Unit One got lucky. Its fist found the red core of the Angel, which had already been seriously damaged by Asuka's progressive knife. Under the force of that one titanic blow, the red sphere shattered into countless pieces. The Angel's eye went dark.

Then, something which truly chilled the dark heart of Gendo Ikari occurred: Unit One did not rip out one of the Angel's organs to consume it. Instead, the violet giant got back to its feet and began to walk around the Geofront, looking disoriented. It soon began clutching at its head again.

"What the hell is going on?" Makoto asked, finally breaking the relative silence that had fallen on the bridge.

"The beast within EVA Unit One has finally awoken," Akagi said darkly. "It's broken free of the restraints we puny humans have placed upon it. But I have no idea why its acting like this."

She glanced upwards toward Gendo as she said this last bit. The commander scowled.

On the main viewer, Unit One continued to walk aimlessly about for several moments. Then, it abruptly went down to one knee, and the light in its eyes faded before going out entirely.

"EVA One has gone completely silent," Aoba said after a few seconds had passed.

"What's the pilot's status?" Misato demanded.

"Unknown," Makoto answered softly. "We're not getting any readings."

"This battle is over," Gendo proclaimed, rising from his chair. "Major Katsuragi, you have the conn. I trust that you can handle the necessary cleanup. Fuyutski, come with me."

The old Vice Commander obediently followed Gendo out of the command center. The bearded man didn't say a word as he walked with long, purposeful strides toward his office. He didn't say a thing as he opened the door, nor did he utter a single sound as he walked across the floor of the great room, heading toward his desk. It wasn't until he had sat down in his chair that he asked the question Fuyutski knew was burning within him.

"What the hell just happened?" Gendo asked, his voice tightly controlled.

"Clearly, Unit One did not consume the Angel's S2 organ as we expected it to," Fuyutski replied.

Gendo pursed his lips until his mouth was nothing more than a thin line, and Fuyutski realized that his former student was on the verge of exploding.

"Clearly, but _why?_" Gendo asked. "_You're_ the metaphysical biologist. What went wrong?"

"I can only think of one possibility at the moment," Fuyutski replied.

"Do tell," Gendo said.

"The only thing I can think of that would cause EVA to behave so erratically under these conditions is the presence of a foreign soul," Fuyutski said.

Gendo's eyes widened, memories of Akagi's theories coming back to him like a punch in the gut. "A foreign soul?" he asked.

"Yes," Fuyutski answered. "It need not be one that is hostile to either of the other two souls now caught within EVA. It just needs to lack the kind of instinctual bond with the other two souls that Shinji and Yui share, being mother and child. That would be enough to make it…incompatible with Shinji and Yui's souls."

"Sensei," Gendo said, looking out his window at the silent form of Unit One, "I fear that things may have become much more complicated."

* * *

Author's Notes: This chapter was officially a massive pain in the ass. There was just a whole lot of things I felt needed to be done, but that I didn't want to do. A lot of things happened like they did in canon, the amount of angst is huge, and I couldn't make the conversation between Asuka and Rei feel quite right no matter how many times I rewrote it.

I didn't want to stick as close to canon as I did, but I needed Shinji to realize what a monster Gendo is, and once the Dummy System was on, I couldn't come up with a method of Shinji regaining control that I thought was plausible. Not an original one, at least. Also, Shinji getting absorbed into EVA is essential.

I hope nobody minds that I skipped a chunk of the series. I didn't think anybody would really want to read all the build up to the Thirteenth Angel, especially if it was going to end the same way.

Sorry about my ranting. I'll be in better form come next chapter. That much I can promise you.

As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers. Now for some fun. I think we all need it.

* * *

Omake

Best Frame Job _Ever_

Gendo grumbled to himself as he walked through the halls of NERV. His son had demanded to meet with him, stating that he would leave Tokyo-3 and NERV if Gendo didn't comply.

And for some bizarre reason, Shinji had demanded that said meeting take place on the catwalks suspended above the EVA cages.

Gendo strongly doubted that the foolish had anything of relevance to say to him; Shinji would probably just attempt to guilt trip him, as the boy still suffered from illusions that Gendo had a conscience.

The door to the catwalks hissed open, and Gendo walked forward. He soon spotted a figure standing in the shadows that was small enough to be his son, but strangely, a second figure of equal size hung limply from the first.

"Pilot Ikari?" Gendo asked.

"FATHER! OH GOD! WHY?!" Shinji screamed, startling Gendo and drawing the attention of the small army of technicians who worked in the cages.

The first shadowy figure then hurled the second over the railing. Gendo's eyes widened when he saw that it was Shinji. The Third Child's body landed hard on the metal floor, several bone shattering upon impact.

Gendo gasped and reflexively ran over to the railing to look down, allowing several of the technicians present to see him. He quickly pulled back out of sight, but the damage had already been done.

The Commander then quickly turned to figure that had thrown his son's body off the catwalk, and was surprised to see that it had changed. It was taller now, and definitely feminine.

The figure waved cheerfully at him, then melted into the shadows and vanished. Gendo looked over the railing again, and saw that the technicians were already calling for NERV security to arrest him.

* * *

**Take **_**that**_**, you bastard!** Shinji shouted triumphantly as Birdy quickly fled the "murder" scene.

"Uh, I do hope you realize that you didn't exactly help your chances of getting your own body again by using your old one to frame your dad like that," Birdy said.

**It'll be fine,** Shinji assured her. **Haven't you ever watched this show? There's a whole **_**roomful **_**of Rei clones in Terminal Dogma. I'm sure it's possible for them to make a clone of me when the time comes.** **Besides, it was so **_**totally**_** worth it.**

Birdy shrugged. "So long as you're happy…"


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Nine: **Resisting**

_The First Day…_

Gendo Ikari had the migraine from hell.

This really wasn't that surprising, given the way several key factors in his scenario had gone sour recently. And, adding injury to injury, SEELE's response to the latest battle was perhaps worse than it would have been if Unit One had absorbed the S2 organ like he'd expected.

"We find the report given to us on the most recent battle most disturbing, Ikari," SEELE-06 said.

"Not only did the Angel penetrate the Geofront, but the way in which Unit One went berserk is something we find a great cause for concern," SEELE-11 added.

"Indeed. What do NERV Central's engineers do all day?" SEELE-07 asked. "Certainly not work on EVA, judging from the ease which the beast broke from its restraints. Unless…"

SEELE-07 paused for dramatic effect. Had Gendo had the actual man in front of him rather than a holographic monolith, he would have been very tempted to rush over and throttle him.

"Unless," SEELE-07 repeated, "Unit One's berserk rage was something that was desired."

Gendo resisted the urge to wince, something that the sensation of having a jackhammer inside his skull did not make any easier.

SEELE knew what he'd wanted to happen; the Dead Sea Scrolls, to which they were so devoted, had doubtlessly allowed them to work it out easily. The prophecies contained within the scrolls had many either/or clauses—forks in which destiny could branch off into different directions.

It was now fairly obvious that Gendo had sought to send events down the branch that concerned "the true Offspring of Lilith ascending to Godhood by consuming the Heart of her Enemy, the Fruit of Life."

It was even more obvious that he'd failed. The former fact had made SEELE distrustful, while the latter had made the old men infuriatingly smug. It was the worst of both worlds.

Fortunately, they could prove nothing, despite what they knew. The game would continue.

"That is preposterous," Gendo scoffed. "NERV never desired to lose control of an Evangelion. Maintenance of the restraints on Unit One was never neglected. You may check NERV's records to confirm this for yourself."

The last part, at least, was completely true. Gendo had never bothered having the restraints upon the test-type EVA weakened, if only because he'd been confident that no simple bindings of steel could ever hope to hold back Unit One when the time came.

"Well, it is most fortunate that Unit One did not claim the Angel's S2 organ for itself, despite NERV's loss of control," SEELE-02 spoke up.

_You think my only opportunity has passed,_ Gendo thought, silently bristling at the man's vaguely mocking tone. _You're wrong. I will_ make_ another opportunity for Unit One to claim an S2 organ, if need be._

"Indeed," he agreed.

"Ikari, your presence here is no longer required," SEELE-01 spoke up abruptly.

There were no false pleasantries about how well appreciated his appearance had been; they saved that for the meetings between Gendo and the Instrumentality Committee, which were always on-the-record affairs. Instead, the hologram of Gendo within the virtual meeting chamber simply vanished.

"Ikari lies," SEELE-07 said. "He planned to subvert our scenario in favor of one of his own."

"Obviously," SEELE-01 said contemptuously. "However, he failed. I would not have expected that of Ikari."

"Clearly we require further information," SEELE-02 said.

"Clearly," SEELE-01 agreed.

* * *

The first thing Gendo did after leaving his meeting with SEELE was to head to his office and take several aspirin for his migraine. When the relentless pounding inside his head started to abate, he summoned Dr. Akagi to his office.

She arrived more quickly than he would have liked.

"You sent for me, sir?" she asked as she strode across the great room toward his desk.

"Yes," Gendo said. "I trust that by now you've heard Fuyutski's explanation for why EVA failed to act as we expected?"

Akagi nodded. "I have, sir."

She wisely refrained from reminding Gendo that she had warned him about the third entity for some time now.

Being the boss of a place like NERV meant never having to tolerate people saying "I told you so."

"Good," he said. "I want you to rectify the problem immediately."

"That…could be a problem, sir," Akagi said.

Gendo felt his headache growing in intensity again. "Why is that, Doctor?"

"Isolating the foreign entity would be no easy task at the best of times, sir, but so long as Shinji's trapped in EVA along with the entity and Unit One's…resident soul, it will be virtually impossible," Akagi said. "And eliminating the entity cannot be done without first isolating it."

"Then your chief responsibility right now is the salvage operation to extract the Third Child from Unit One," Gendo said.

"Yes, sir," Akagi said. "If that's all…"

"You're dismissed, Dr. Akagi," Gendo said.

"Yes, sir," she said and left.

Gendo waited until she gone, then allowed himself to slump in his chair, grimacing as he rubbed his aching head.

* * *

_The Second Day…_

Skeletsu came at her with a roar, his fist surging forward at incredible speeds. Birdy just managed to dodge in time, and his punch landed on the wall behind her instead, creating a great hole within it.

The Alterian let loose a savage kick, striking the reptilian being right in the chest and sending him flying into a nearby building. The force of his impact left a considerable dent in the concrete.

Her opponent seemed to have taken less damage than the structure. He leapt to his feet at once, his good eye blazing. Birdy motioned for him to bring it on.

He charged her. As he drew near, Birdy gripped his arm and attempted to use his own momentum to fling him into the wall he'd so recently punched a hole into. However, he responded with some maneuver she'd never encountered before. The next thing she knew, she was on her back, and Skeletsu was atop her, his powerful hands by her throat.

Then he threw his head back and laughed. "You're certainly worthy of being known as Birdy the Mighty, but your old teacher isn't out of tricks yet!"

She smiled as he got off of her and allowed her to get to her feet. "Why don't you show that trick to me, Director?"

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?!" Skeletsu demanded, pretending to be appalled.

Birdy smirked and cracked her knuckles. "I intend to get it out of you one way or another, Director."

Skeletsu grinned. "Come on, then, my student. Earn your lesson."

They began sparring again at their usual fast and frantic pace, holding nothing back as they tested one another. The various people who saw the two of them fighting in the streets of Alteria rolled their eyes and pretended not to notice the two, but that was all right. She was on her home planet, she was with her beloved teacher, and everything was all right.

Except there was something niggling her, at the back of her mind, telling her that everything was _not_ all right at all.

She ignored it and continued her sparring session…until they happened to find themselves by a shop with a large, storefront window. In it, she caught sight of her reflection and gasped.

Her hair, once pink and white, had become completely black, just like Shinji's.

The sight caused memories to rapidly begin resurfacing. Birdy remembered that she wasn't on Alteria at all, but on some primitive mud ball named Earth. She had been bonded to a boy she'd nearly killed…and the two of them had been absorbed into a replica of one of the Untouchables that the Earthlings had so foolishly created.

"Oh god," Birdy breathed, looking at her reflection again.

She knew only too well what her suddenly having one of Shinji's features meant. The barriers between the two of them that had been so carefully erected when she'd prepared herself to bond with him must not be present here.

Her mind and soul were starting to fuse with those of Shinji Ikari.

* * *

_The Third Day…_

There were some things in the world that seemed like they'd continue going on no matter _what_ else may be going on. No matter what cataclysm might be going on, these activities would always happen like clockwork, or so it appeared.

To EVA pilots, sync tests were _definitely_ one of these activities.

"The two hours are up," Maya finally announced, opening the test plugs.

"So how'd we do?" Asuka asked with far less enthusiasm than usual.

"Rei's sync ratio has held steady since the last test," Maya answered. "Asuka, yours is down three points fromm the last test," Maya answered. "You should probably, um, work on that."

Under different circumstances and with different news, Asuka might have laughed. The mousey technician sounded painfully nervous in the absence of Dr. Akagi, who was probably working with Unit One at the moment.

"Understood," Asuka replied.

"Okay, then, I guess you can go," Maya said.

Asuka and Rei both nodded, then departed the test plug chamber, heading for their locker room. The two wordlessly showered and then changed into their normal clothes. It wasn't until they had left and were walking through the halls that one of them finally said something.

Surprisingly, it was Rei. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Yes," Asuka answered, then hesitated and added, "No."

"What's wrong?" Rei asked.

Asuka sighed. "I had victory in my hands. I could taste it," she said. "And then he took it away from me."

Rei quirked an eyebrow. She had thought that the source of Asuka's black mood was her sync ratio's decline.

"By that point in the battle, it was not Ikari any more," Rei pointed out. "It was Unit One."

"I know," Asuka said, "but I can't be mad at a damn _machine_."

Rei frowned slightly. "You wish to be angry at Ikari?" she asked.

"No," Asuka replied, looking downward. "Shinji's in a bad spot right now, and I want him to get out. I do still owe him one. But I feel like I _need_ to be angry at someone."

"I do not understand," Rei said.

"Neither do I, sometimes," Asuka said, shaking her head. "Neither do I."

"I see," Rei said, even though she didn't. "In any case, I wish I could do more to help you."

Asuka smiled slightly. "It helps a lot just having someone who listens to me and doesn't think I'm insane," the Second Child said. "I'm glad that we did eventually become friends, Rei. Hikari's great, but I can't talk to her about stuff at NERV like I can with you."

Rei blushed a delicate pink. "I am…also glad."

* * *

_The Fourth Day…_

"So what exactly happened?" Misato demanded.

She and Ritsuko were standing on the walkway in the cage that was right before Unit One's face. The great war machine had damaged its helmet during the last battle, and its head was currently wrapped in great bandages. Only its huge white teeth and a single, unblinking green eye were visible.

"Shinji's sync ratio reached 400 percent," Ritsuko answered. "At that level, the pilot's ego borderline collapses. His mind and soul were absorbed into the EVA."

Misato's eyes narrowed. "What happened to his body?"

"It came apart, for lack of a better term," Ritsuko said. "The composition of the LCL has changed to something very similar to the primordial soup of earth. All the molecules that formed Shinji's body are still there. They've just been separated."

Misato crossed her arms. "You're talking like this is some simple lab experiment," she said in a low growl. "Like there isn't a teenage kid trapped inside of there."

"I always try not to consider the human element," Akagi said. "It never helps."

Misato's eyes widened, and before she knew what she was doing, she's reached out and slapped Ritsuko across the face as hard as she could.

"You will consider the human element, damn you!" she shouted. "There's a boy who's been put through an incredible amount of shit by us, and you _will_ have his fate resting on your conscience while you take some responsibility for what your creation has done and get him out of there! Do you understand me?!"

"Perfectly, Major Katsuragi," Ritsuko said coldly.

"Good," Misato said.

The Operations Director then stormed off, leaving the cage and heading into a nearby elevator. The moment the door closed, she punched one of the walls. She felt pain shoot up her arm all the way to elbow but didn't cry out.

"Damn it," she whispered, squeezing her suddenly tear filled eyes shut.

* * *

_The Fifth Day…_

"EVA Unit One! Go!" Misato shouted.

The electromagnetic catapult sent the violet destroyer rocketing upwards at terrific speed, and Birdy grimaced beneath the force of the acceleration. Whatever the white and blue plug suit she wore was supposed to do, it didn't make the task of piloting any more pleasant.

Within seconds, the mighty Evangelion had arrived on the surface, and Birdy at last got to see her enemy. It was a great blue diamond, even larger than the behemoth she herself was piloting.

"Look out!" Misato suddenly shouted over the radio.

"Huh?"

A great lance of blue-white suddenly erupted from one of the points of the Angel and slammed into Unit One's chest, quickly melting and then vaporizing even the extremely tough armor of the EVA.

Birdy screamed in agony, feeling as though the terrible heat might well cause her heart to simply explode or turn to ash. The LCL boiled furiously around her as it was flash heated by the Angel's attack.

She was vaguely aware that she seemed to be sinking. NERV was recalling the EVA. However, the Angel kept its beam attack focused on Unit One's chest as the EVA began to descend.

The pain reached a terrible crescendo, and Birdy knew no more.

* * *

She returned to the waking world with a start, finding herself staring at the drab, off-white ceiling tiles that she knew meant she was in NERV Medical.

"Unfamiliar ceiling," she groaned.

Then she frowned. She had never been one to get stuck on such trivial details as ceilings. Something wasn't right about all this. In fact, something was seriously wrong.

Getting up despite the intense pain, Birdy staggered over to the room's tiny adjoining bathroom, absently noting how scratchy the green hospital gown she was clad in felt.

Finally reaching her destination after what felt like forever, she leaned heavily on the sink and then, after pausing a moment to regain her strength, dared to look up into the mirror.

She paled when she saw her reflection. Birdy had half-expected the black hair, but not how young she looked. She was too short, and her face had regained some of its childish roundness. She couldn't be more than sixteen and was probably younger.

"I'm being fused with Shinji," she whispered, finally remembering what was wrong.

The process was progressing with frightening speed. Already, she was starting to take on more of his physical traits. That was a very bad sign, she knew.

She racked her brain, frantically looking for something that was hers, something that completely distinguished her from him.

Only to have great difficulty discerning his memories from her own. Was she the one who apologized far too readily, or was that him? Was he the ice cream lover, or was that her? She didn't know, and that horrified her.

_This is one of his memories, too, I think,_ she realized, suddenly feeling like she was about to vomit.

"I can't stop this from happening by myself," she said softly. "Shinji! Where are you? Why aren't you helping me keep them from happening?!"

She didn't really expect any response to her call; the Third Child hadn't said a word since they'd been absorbed into EVA. For all Birdy knew, he wasn't conscious.

So it shocked the hell out of her when his face appeared in the mirror.

"I don't want to stop it," Shinji said in a tiny voice.

* * *

_The Sixth Day…_

"An entire set of protocols just for this very situation," Maya said in an awed tone as she looked over the information. "Sempai, how on earth did you manage to create all this so quickly?"

"I didn't," Ritsuko answered as she looked on over her assistant's shoulder. "Most of this data is from ten years ago."

"What data from ten years ago?" Maya asked. "Has this happened before?"

"Yes, but it was before I started working here. It was during my mother's time," Ritsuko answered. "But I can still pick her brains."

"How did it come out ten years ago?" Sakura asked softly.

"They didn't succeed," Ritsuko asked with a shake of her head.

The head of Tech Division One left it unsaid that she had no expectations of succeeding now, either. Oh, it would be nice to retrieve Shinji intact, of course, but she didn't believe it would happen. The presence of the third entity within EVA complicated the hell out of a situation that was already impossibly complex.

_Really,_ she thought dourly, _the best we can reasonably hope for that the salvage attempt kills the third entity along with Shinji._

* * *

_The Fifteenth Day…_

"No!" Birdy screamed. "No! Make it stop!"

The Alterian was caught in the center of a tempest. It was a great maelstrom made not of wind and rain but of memories. Thousands upon thousands of memories swirled around her; sights, sounds, smells, feelings of all kind. There was far too much for her to ever hope to process, two lifetimes' worth, and she had no idea who each memory belonged to.

"Stop! Make it stop!" she wailed, falling to her knees and somehow feeling them come into contact carpet, a bamboo mat, and the lining of her (his) chair on the space ship all at once.

She gripped her head as a sudden cacophony of noise sounded, threatening to overwhelm her. It was a horrible combination of cello music, an Alterian band, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and the roar of space ship engines.

"Damn it, Shinji!" she screamed. "Why won't you help me stop this?! Why do you want this to happen!?"

**Because I'm **_**so**_** tired of existing as I have been,** he whispered, sounding utterly miserable. **I don't want to be me anymore.**

Birdy's eyes widened. She knew that the Thirteenth Angel had struck Shinji hard, but she had never had any idea he was so depressed that he would be willing to commit the soft suicide of becoming one with her.

Then a great whirl of memories unfolded before her. In a mere heartbeat she saw the life of neglect Shinji had led, the pain he'd inadvertently caused when he'd been forced to action, and she understood his willingness to just sit back and allow them to fuse into one person.

That didn't mean she, too, was going to stop fighting. Not by a long shot.  
"You can't let this happen!" Birdy shouted. "You can't!"

**I have to admit that you infuriate me sometimes,** Shinji continued as though he hadn't heard her. **But you're also very brave, much more than I could ever be. You know when to act. I admire that about you. I…that's one of the reasons I'm willing to be one with you.**

The great storm of light and sound that gusted around her increased in intensity, and Birdy feared that she would soon be carried off by it.

Then her face hardened, and she threw every ounce of her willpower to the task of maintaining her individuality. Nothing in her life had ever been more difficult.

"NO!" she snarled. "I AM I!"

The tempest calmed suddenly, not disappearing entirely but diminishing greatly. Birdy sighed in relief, even though she knew this was merely a respite. She had to convince Shinji to help her, or it would return in even greater intensity.

"Shinji," she gasped out, suddenly realizing that she was panting with exertion. "You have no right to do this. If we're combined into a hybrid, both of us will cease to exist in our present forms. That might be okay with you, but it's not with me."

She could immediately sense that this disturbed him. "Please," she said. "Help me."

**I…** he stammered. **I…I'm sorry, Birdy, but I can't. I just don't have the strength. I'm not like you.**

Birdy grit her teeth and resisted the urge to start screaming at him, instead changing tactics. "You know that since I'm the stronger of us, the resulting hybrid will be more me than you, right? You'll be erased a lot more soundly than I will."

**That's all right,** Shinji replied in a tone of weary resignation. **We tend to do better when we're being you with me in the background anyway. You listen to me when I warn you against taking reckless risks. I don't listen to you, so it's probably better this way.**

Birdy took a deep breath, then played her last card. "If we become one and form a new person, there are people who are going to miss you, Shinji."

**No there isn't,** he scoffed. **People only ever care about me because I pilot EVA. I'm sure we'll be able to pilot after becoming one person, so everyone will be fine.**

"That's not true!" Birdy yelled.

**Isn't it? I've spent so much time being you and helping you with your investigation,** Shinji said. **Nobody ever seemed to notice or care.**

"People _do_ care about you!" Birdy shouted. "Look!"

With the two of them so dangerously close to becoming a single entity, Birdy currently enjoyed access to most of Shinji's memories. Only the most secret and private ones remained his alone by this point.

The Altarian somehow _grabbed_ one and showed it to him. It was the image of Rei's smile, immediately after the Fifth Angel had been slain. The first time she had ever smiled for him.

Birdy selected another one, this time of when Misato had kissed him after he'd bought her jewelry as a gift to congratulate her on her promotion to major. Shinji again felt the sensation of the older woman's lips pressing against his own.

Then Birdy foisted the memory of the time Shinji had told Asuka he'd gotten the talent scout's card for her. He again relived the moment when the redhead had smiled at him so brilliantly that her entire face had lit up, practically glowing.

"You see?!" Birdy asked desperately. "People _do_ care about you! You're just too afraid to see it and believe it!"

Shinji was silent, having no response to this.

Birdy pressed the issue. "If you let this happen, you'll be hurting them more than any number of bungled attempts at helping them ever could!" she yelled.

Shinji said nothing for a long, long moment. He didn't quite believe what Birdy was saying; his feelings of worthlessness ran deep. However, he couldn't just bring himself to dismiss the possibility that she was right.

"And Shinji," Birdy added, "I care about you, too. After everything we've been through together, I consider you a friend. I don't want you to stop existing any more than I want to stop existing. Please, help me."

**…all right,** Shinji agreed at last.

The Third Child put his will to the task of retaining his individually, of keeping them separate. He was actually more adept at the task than Birdy, probably due to his being well-practiced at the art of keeping others at arm's length.

The storm of memories ceased entirely, and Birdy grew back to the proper age, her hair becoming pink and white again in the process.

"Well, this is interesting."

The Alterian turned to see Shinji sitting on a nearby sand dune, his knees drawn up almost to his chest. Birdy let of a cheer and rushed over to the boy, hugging him.

"Thank you, Shinji!" she exclaimed. "I knew you wouldn't just give up if I could only make you see reason! You wont regret this, I promise."

"I'm not sure it'll make a difference," he said. "Feel that?"

She frowned and was about to ask what he was talking about, but then she realized that she _did_ feel it. It was like a magnetic pull, trying to draw her and Shinji together. It was faint at the moment, but it was there, and she somehow knew that they wouldn't be able to resist it forever.

"We have to get out of here," she said. "Out of EVA."

"But how?" Shinji asked. "Just walking down the shoreline until we find the exit?"

"Huh?" Birdy frowned, looking about.

She realized that the landscape around them, which had been as fluid as the crazed rush of memories, had settled into that of an empty beach of white sand, upon which gentle waves were continually crashing.

"What is this place?" she asked.

"I don't know," Shinji replied, looking confused. "I though it was someplace from your memories. I've never been here before."

"Neither have I," Birdy said. "This is weird."

"Yeah," Shinji agreed. "It doesn't answer my question, though. How are we supposed to get out of here?"

Birdy took another long look around, then shrugged. "If walking down the shoreline is the only thing we can do, then walking down the shoreline is the only thing we can do. Let's go."

Shinji was about to argue that such a thing couldn't possibly work to free them from EVA, then he gave a mental shrug and got to his feet, brushing the sand off his pants. The pilot and the police officer then set off down the beach together.

* * *

_The Thirty-First Day…_

It had been an entire month since Shinji had been absorbed into EVA. An entire month that had at once passed in a blur and lasted a seeming eternity to Misato Katsuragi.

And finally it was time to try and remedy the situation that had plagued NERV for so long. They were going to try and rescue Shinji from EVA.

"Ego border pulse connection is complete," Maya said, looking at a computer readout that Misato couldn't make heads nor tails of.

"Roger," Ritsuko replied. "Start the salvage operation."

"Initiating program, transmitting first signal," Makoto said.

"Signal received, no rejection," Aoba replied.

The cool, professional voices of the technicians irritated Misato. They sounded just like they were doing any normal experiment or procedure, not trying to save a child's life.

"Proceed to send the second and third signals," Sakura said.

"Subject is normal."

"Destrudo cannot be confirmed."

An increasingly loud humming sound came from somewhere, but where exactly Misato couldn't have said.

She guessed it was probably EVA.

"Affirmative, shift the subject to phase two!" Ritsuko commanded.

* * *

Inside of EVA, Shinji and Birdy had long ago ceased their walk down the endless beach.

"This isn't going to work!" Shinji grunted as he used his legs to push away from Birdy, his feet planted against her abdomen. "It's over."

Pushing Shinji's shoulders with her arms, Birdy grunted. "What have I told—"

"I know, I know, never give up," Shinji groaned.

The pseudo-magnetic force between them had only grow in intensity as time had passed, to the point where the two were literally being pulled together. Both knew that if they ceased in their efforts to remain individual beings for even a moment, they would be pulled together irrevocably.

Both knew that even if they didn't relent, they would become merged into a hybrid being soon anyway.

Neither one noticed the way that the sky above them, which had remained bright blue the _entire_ time they'd been on the beach, was starting to flicker with a thousand different colored lights as Ritsuko attempted to get Shinji out.

* * *

"It's no good! His ego borderline is frozen into a fixed loop!" Maya shouted as her readout went crazy.

"Try and irradiate the wave patterns from all directions!" Ritsuko ordered. She rushed over to Maya and looked over her shoulder at the technician's screen. "My god! All of the radiated signals are being trapped in Klein space!"

"What does that mean?" Misato demanded.

"It means…we failed," Ritsuko admitted, and Misato's eyes slid shut as a look of despair came to dominate her features.

"Abort intervention!" Ritsuko commanded. "Reverse the tangent graph! Set the addition value at zero!"

"Roger!" Maya replied.

"Destrudo reaction in the Q-area!" Aoba reported. "Pattern is sepia!"

"I've got a change in the core pulse, too! Class three, confirmed!" Makoto added.

"Maintaining current condition has priority! Stop that backflow!" Ritsuko shouted.

"Right!" Maya said, typing furiously. "Backflow, plus point five, point eight! This is all wrong! I can't stop it!"

"What's going on!?" Ritsuko exclaimed, looking up at Unit One. "Don't you want to come back, Shinji?"

"The EVA! It's rejecting the signal!" Maya shouted as red alert warnings appeared everywhere.

"Shinji's ego pervasion is disintegrating in the LCL!" Aoba said.

"Pressure in the plug is increasing!" Makoto added.

"Abort all operations! Power down!" Ritsuko yelled.

"It's not working!" Maya said. "The plug is being ejected!"

The hatch opened and LCL began to gush out onto the walkway.

"No!" Misato screamed. "No!"

Ritsuko and the bridge techs could only watch, frozen in horror, while Misato sprinted down to the walkway where the LCL that had once been Shinji was pouring. By the time she had reached her destination, the great flow of LCL had ebbed to a mere trickle and Shinji's blue and white plug suit had been washed onto the walkway.

Misato fell to his knees before the garment, crying. She picked it up and hugged it to her chest as she sobbed.

"Damn you!" she cried. "What good is all your science if it can't save even one small life!"

The Operations Director turned to regard Unit One. "Give Shinji back, you monster!" she shouted. "Give him back!"

* * *

"I can't keep fighting, Birdy," Shinji said. "It feels like its been forever. I'm just too tired. I'm sorry."

With that, the Third Child ceased his efforts to remain separate, expecting to no longer exist as an individual person the moment he did so.

Instead, the world shattered around him. Shinji inhaled sharply in surprise as he found himself suspended in a great field of stars. And he was floating alone; Birdy was no where in sight.

"Where am I?" he whispered as he floated through nothingness.

No answer was forthcoming, but he did spot something in the distance, a spot of light that was larger and brighter than the countless pinpricks of the far off stars. It approached him, and Shinji soon recognized it as a certain spectral figure that he had encountered when trapped within the Twelfth Angel.

"Mother?" he breathed.

She drew near him and smiled, then reached out and caressed his face. He was surprised to find that her ghostly fingers were warm, and he reached out and took one of her hands in his. Then—

* * *

Misato suddenly looked up when she heard a small splashing sound to her left. Her eyes widened when she saw a completely naked Shinji Ikari laying face down in a puddle of LCL next to her.

* * *

_The Thirty-Third Day…_

"So Shinji still isn't awake yet?" Ritsuko asked as she and the Operations Director made their way to the NERV parking deck.

"Nope, but all the doctors have assured me that he's just exhausted and should wake up soon," Misato said worriedly.

"I'm sure they're correct," Ritsuko said. "NERV doesn't employ incompetent doctors."

Misato smirked slightly. "I'm sure you're right, Dr. Akagi."

Ritsuko shook her head slightly as the two drew near to Misato's car. "So, heading home?" the faux blonde asked.

Misato shook her head. "No, I have to go meet with someone."

"I see," was all Ritsuko said.

"Well, see you tomorrow," Misato said, getting into her car.

Ritsuko watched as the battered Renault peeled out of the parking garage. "Shinji just came back, and she's already going off to Kaji," the scientist said with a shake of her head.

Then, a small, rather bitter smile appeared on her face. "Well, maybe I'd be doing the same if I were in her place," she said.

Unfortunately, she wasn't in Misato's place, she was in Ritsuko Akagi's place.

"And Ritsuko Akagi has a hell of a lot of work to do, finding that mystery soul," she muttered, heading back into headquarters.

* * *

Within one of the many sterile rooms of the NERV Medical Ward, Shinji Ikari finally began to stir after over a day of deep, dreamless sleep. His eyes slowly slid open, and he beheld his least favorite site in all the world.

As he knew it meant success, however, even he couldn't be too depressed at the sight. "Not so unfamiliar now," he muttered, a small smirk on his face. "Looks like we made it out of there."

Within the confines of his head, he heard a groan, then a gasp. **Sh-Shinji?**

The Third Child's eyes widened hugely.

That wasn't Birdy's voice.

"Mother?" he whispered.

* * *

Author's Notes: I told you I'd surprise you, didn't I? I've had this idea in mind for a while now, and I have to say I was glad to finally get to this part.

Now, I know a couple of you were hoping to see Shinji and Birdy interacting with Yui while inside EVA, but that was never really something I'd planned. Hopefully this latest development satisfies you.

As always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Now for a little fun.

* * *

Omakes!

Dangers of Dancing

"You sent for me, sir?" she asked as she strode across the great room toward his desk.

"Yes," Gendo said. "I trust that by now you've heard Fuyutski's explanation for why EVA failed to act as we expected?"

Akagi nodded. "I have, sir."

"Now—"

"It's a real pity that this had to happen," Ritsuko said. "If only someone could have warned you that there was a foreign entity present…"

Gendo's eyes narrowed. "Doctor, I do not appreciate your tone, and—"

"Oh, wait! Someone _did_ warn you!" Ritsuko exclaimed. "I did!"

"Akagi…" Gendo growled.

Undeterred, Akagi leapt up onto Gendo's desk and commenced the "I told you so dance."

"Oh yeah, oh yeah!" she cheered. "I called it! You ignored me! And it bit you in the—"

Gendo savagely kicked his desk, moving it a few feet and sending Akagi tumbling down to the hard floor.

"Ow," she groaned a she picked herself up. "Was that really necessary?"

"Next time you do that, I will shoot you," Gendo said flatly.

Ritsuko swallowed. "So…I'll just get to finding that foreign soul now."

"Good idea."

* * *

Uh-Oh…

Within one of the many sterile rooms of the NERV Medical Ward, Shinji Ikari finally began to stir after over a day of deep, dreamless sleep. His eyes slowly slid open, and he beheld his least favorite site in all the world.

As he knew it meant success, however, even he couldn't be too depressed at the sight.

"Okay, Birdy, we're out, and we're still us instead of one person made out of us," he said. "Now, it's your turn to hold up your end of our deal. Tell me the secret of undoing a girl's bra with one hand!"

**…Shinji?**

"…Mommy?"


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Ten: **Windows to the Past (I)**

**Yes, Shinji-kun, it's me,** Yui spoke softly from her place inside Shinji head. **I don't know how I got here, but it's me.**

Shinji passed several moments in complete, thunderstruck silence. He didn't move, didn't speak. He barely breathed, so deep was his shock.

He had sensed his mother's presence in EVA before, and he had never forgotten his experience with the Twelfth Angel. However, he hadn't believed for a moment that she was actually inside of it. He'd suspected there was some echo of her trapped within EVA, at most.

He abruptly got up and silently moved the room's lone chair to just below the surveillance camera that was hanging from the ceiling. Climbing up onto it, he unplugged a wire from the camera, and the little red light on it winked out.

One of the extremely few things he felt he knew at the moment was that he did _not_ want NERV to be watching him right then.

"Mother," he spoke as he returned to the hospital bed and sat down on the edge of it, "I…"

Shinji swallowed, finding that he had no idea what to say.

He frowned, realizing that wasn't true at all. There were a thousand—a million— things he wanted to say, and he had questions without number he wanted to ask her. There was just too much for him to pick any one of them.

So it wasn't surprising that Yui spoke first. **Shinji-kun, my baby, I'm so sorry,** she said, suddenly sounding like she was on the verge of tears. **It was never supposed to happen this way! Things were never, ever supposed to happen like this!**

"What wasn't?" Shinji asked.

**Everything!** Yui exclaimed. **Nothing went the way I expected it to after I was absorbed into EVA. If I had thought your father would react the way he did…I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! It's all my fault! I never should have—**

"Mother!" Shinji hissed as it became obvious that Yui was descending into hysteria. He paused, then added. "Uh, sorry."

He hadn't wanted to speak sharply to her, but her flood of apologies hadn't been helping anything at all.

Then, suddenly, it hit him like a bolt of lightning. _Oh my god…is this where I get it from?_

He didn't have much time to dwell on this possible revelation, however, as his mother took a deep breath and began speaking again.

**It's all right, and I'm sorry for going to pieces like that,** Yui said, now sounding much calmer. **It's just that it's broken my heart to have known what was happening to you all these years and not have been able to **_**do**_** anything about it.**

"How have you been able to know what was happening?" Shinji asked.

**Your father goes down to the cages in the middle of the night sometimes, when they're empty,** Yui explained. **He talks to Unit One sometimes. I hear it.**

This inevitably led to his next question. "How did you get inside Unit One?"

Yui sighed. **It's a long story, Shinji-kun.**

Shinji looked at the clock that sat on the tiny bedside table. It was one o'clock in the morning. He wouldn't have to worry about a nurse coming in randomly to check on him.

"I have time," he said.

Yui was silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts. **I guess the chain of events that resulted in me being inside EVA all started in 1999. That was the year I first started dating your father,** she said. **A lot of people believed he was only pursuing me because of my connections. You see, at the time, **_**my**_** father was a member of SEELE.**

"SEELE?" Shinji asked.

**It's a secret cabal of people—very powerful people—and NERV's hidden beneficiaries,** Yui said.

_Okay, why not?_ Was Shinji's first thought.

NERV had always seemed like a shadowy, conspiratorial type of organization. Secret cabals actually didn't feel all that out of place in relation to it.

"Those people might not have been wrong," Shinji said darkly. "The ones who thought he wanted to use you for your connections, I mean."

**No, I know that wasn't it,** Yui replied. **Though now, I wish that they **_**were**_** right.**

"Huh?"

**Let me finish the story, then it will all make sense.**

"Go ahead," Shinji said, laying back against the bed's metal headboard.

**Gendo was quickly able to get into SEELE's inner circle. The man has a gift for that sort of thing,** Yui continued. **Not long after, he found out that SEELE intended to begin working toward the fulfillment of a prophecy found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.**

Shinji frowned; even for NERV, that sounded a little out there. "Prophecy?"

**A prophecy about the so-called reunification of Man and God.** **A tale of how the world ends,** Yui answered sorrowfully.

Shinji felt himself pale. "The end of the world?"

**Yes,** Yui said.** Shinji-kun…NERV doesn't exist to prevent Third Impact. It never did. It exists to create one of their own design.**

* * *

Meanwhile, blissfully unaware that they were being discussed by a boy who shouldn't know of their existence and a "dead" woman, the SEELE council assembled in their virtual meeting room.

"We are all in agreement, then?" SEELE-07 asked.

"On the issue of Ikari's intensions, yes," SEELE-03 answered. "There is little doubt that he desired for Unit One to attain godhood."

"Something which runs directly counter to _our_ scenario!" SEELE-11 added shrilly.

"Yes, but we are _not_ agreed on how to proceed," SEELE-03 injected.

"We need do nothing," SEELE-04 snorted dismissively. "Ikari made his attempt to reshape destiny and failed."

"Ikari is not the sort of person to try once and then surrender," SEELE-01 said. "And he is not the type to fail twice."

"If anything, Ikari's recent failure may make him more dangerous," SEELE-07 put in. "It will make him more difficult to predict."

"What would you have us do?" SEELE-04 asked.

"Terminate him," SEELE-07 answered flatly.

"No," SEELE-01 said flatly. "Not yet, at least. Killing Ikari would be like beheading the hydra. Remove one problem and several more will sprout up in its place. For now, we will employ the bell we placed around Ikari's neck."

* * *

It was two in the morning, but Shinji wasn't the least bit tired. He was far too horrified to be tired.

Over the course of the past hour, his mother had told him how SEELE had found the Lance of the Longinus and then arranged for the Katsuragi expedition to use it to awaken the slumbering form of Adam.

"Second Impact was…deliberately set off?" he whispered, feeling a wave of nausea sweep over him as it truly sunk in that the accident that had killed Misato's father had never been an accident at all.

**Yes, it was,** Yui said sorrowfully.

"Why didn't you try to stop them?" Shinji asked.

It was a question he had absolutely no desire to pose; he feared the answer, feared discovering that his mother was no better than his father, but he had to know. He couldn't just leave the matter up in the air. He'd given his father the benefit of the doubt, and that had turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes he'd ever made.

**Because I **_**believed**_**,** Yui sobbed. **Gendo and my father were both for this plan, and I was just young and stupid enough to let them convince me it was a good idea. I came to believe that the world was a horrible place that was never going to get better, and that the Dead Sea Scrolls held the only key to improving humanity's condition. That we could create a world where no one ever knew pain, or fear, or loneliness and that it would be for the best. I believed all that.**

Shinji was silent, feeling overwhelmed by this rush of information.

**Shinji,** Yui spoke up in a small voice. **I'll understand if you hate me for this.**

"No!" he said, more sharply than he'd intended. "No, I don't hate you, mother."

He was tempted to add "I could never hate you" but he knew that wasn't true. He hated his father, so why should it be impossible for him to hate his mother, too?

However, hating his father hurt, and he was certainly in no rush to despise his mother as well, not after he'd longed for her for as long as he could remember, and certainly not for making a mistake.

He knew he had no right to judge, even if he'd wished to. He'd been guilty of failing to do anything at times when he really should have acted more than once, he knew. Besides, even if she had tried to stop SEELE's madness, she almost certainly would have failed.

"But what happened?" he asked. "To change your mind, I mean. You obviously don't still believe in all of that."

**Two things,** Yui said, sounding calmer now. **The first was the way the world pulled itself together after Second Impact. I was amazed by how well humanity dealt with such a terrible disaster; a lot of the old animosities and barriers started to fall in response, once the initial hysteria passed, and there were a lot of acts of great generosity and courage in those days. It helped restore some of my faith in humanity that Gendo and my father had destroyed.**

"And the other thing?" Shinji asked.

**I had you,** Yui answered simply.

"Me?" Shinji asked, surprised.

**Yes. I remember holding my baby boy in my arms and suddenly being so **_**sure**_** that not only was the current state of the world acceptable, it was worth fighting to preserve,** Yui said.

A lump formed in Shinji's throat, as his mother's simple, unquestioning affection acted as a balm for his soul. "So what did you do?"

**Well, first I had to convince your father that the world was worth saving,** Yui said.

Shinji snorted. "I bet that went real well."

**Better than you'd expect,** Yui said softly. **He wasn't always the man you know now. Once upon a time he was quite…sweet.**

Shinji couldn't imagine that, but he decided that there was probably little point in arguing with his mother about it. "So you changed his mind?"

**Eventually, yes, Gendo came around. After that was done,** **I started trying to get SEELE to see reason, and I began questioning the Dead Sea Scrolls,** Yui answered.

* * *

_2003_

"This is quite a claim you're making, Ikari-san," SEELE-07 spoke, his voice oozing contempt.

Standing within a single pool of light and surrounded by the faceless monoliths of SEELE, Yui had to use all her willpower not to flinch. Or to glance at the monolith of SEELE-05, whom she knew to be her father.

"I've studied the Dead Sea Scrolls night after night," Yui said. "Hundreds of hours. I keep coming to the same conclusion: that the prophecies contained within the scrolls are essentially self-fulfilling."

"Blasphemy!" SEELE-02 barked.

"I am only reporting on what I have found," Yui said as levelly as she could.

"It's quite impressive that you have the time to study the scrolls between your work at GEHRIN and nursing that brat of yours," SEELE-08 sneered.

"Enough!" SEELE-05 snapped.

_Thank you, Daddy,_ Yui thought

"Additionally, all my work on Project-E has only further served to convince me that the Angels, and the Seeds of Life in particular, are simply forces beyond our ability to comprehend with current human knowledge," Yui continued. "Is it really wise to play with such things, using only ancient, cryptic texts written by mystics to guide us?"

"We have sacrificed half of mankind on the alter of this ideal, this perfect world we plan to create," SEELE-10 hissed. "Would you have so many deaths be in vain?"

"No," Yui said, "but I also wouldn't like to see the other half of humanity follow because of us playing with Adam and Lilith like a group of children playing with matches."

There was a great uproar as several members of the council began to yell and shout at once, enraged by the comparison. At last, SEELE-01 called for order, and the others reluctantly quieted.

"I believe that we have heard enough on this matter today," Keel said. "Ikari-san, your contributions and opinions are always welcome here. Thank you for taking the time to be with us today."

The monoliths winked out of existence, leaving Yui standing alone in a dark room.

* * *

"Then what happened?" Shinji asked.

**My father died in early 2004,** Yui said. **Without his influence protecting me, it soon became clear that my days were numbered. I had objected too strenuously against SEELE's scenario; they were afraid I might try and sabotage it. So, I decided to become the soul of EVA Unit One.**

"What?" Shinji gasped.

**It's true,** Yui said. **Research on the EVA's was showing that they needed their own soul in order to function. Since I was as good as dead anyway, I thought it would be best if I was absorbed into one of them. At least that way I would live on in some fashion, possibly forever, and I might be able to exert **_**some**_** kind of influence over the future.**

"What did father say?" Shinji asked.

**He…wasn't exactly in love with the idea.**

* * *

_2004_

"This is insane!" Gendo shouted.

"Shh! You'll wake Shinji," Yui chided. "I just got him to sleep a half an hour ago."

Gendo rubbed his temples. "Can we please talk about the issue here?" he asked in a softer but no less vehement tone of voice. "You cannot allow Unit One to absorb you!"

"Yes, I can," Yui said firmly. "That way, it'll be one less person who needs to die in order to make Evangelion work. I'm as good as dead already."

"No, you're not!" Gendo hissed.

"We both know that's not true, dear," Yui said sadly. "Without Dad on the council anymore, they're going to have me killed."

"They may try," Gendo succeeded, "but with GEHRIN's security—"

"You really think they can protect me from a group of men that plays dice with all the nations of the world?" Yui asked incredulously.

"Yes," Gendo said stubbornly. "You'll be fine if you stay down in the Geofront."

Yui scowled. "And live my entire life like a mole afraid of its own shadow?" she asked. "No, absolutely not. This is the only way. Now, I expect you to watch after Shinji when I'm gone, and to—"

"Stop talking like that," Gendo growled.

"No. Gen-chan, we have to face reality," Yui said. "I _can't_ remain with you and Shinji for much longer."

"Stop it," Gendo said, a wild look in his eyes.

"Listen to reason!" Yui said. "SEELE has—"

"Stop it!" he shouted, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her hard.

Yui winced in pain as she felt his fingers digging into her. "You're hurting me!"

Gendo's eyes widened and he removed his hands from her as though her skin burned him. "I'm sorry, Yui," he stammered. "I…I need some air."

With that, he withdrew from the house in a great rush, heedless to Yui's attempts to call him back.

* * *

**Once it became obvious that I wasn't going to convince your father about that, I told him I wouldn't allow myself to be absorbed into EVA,** Yui said.

A very old memory came back to him for the first time in years and years. He remembered being a small child, amazed at the sight of the "big mecha." His mother said it was for the future of mankind or something like that—he'd been too young to really understand the lofty little speech—and that she was going to pilot it for some test.

After that, all he could recall was his mother's scream and a feeling of horrified disbelief.

The Third Child suddenly got up and started to pace about the little room in agitation.

"But you planned to be absorbed, anyway," Shinji said. It was not a question.

**Yes, but it wasn't supposed to happen the day it did, I swear!** Yui said. **If I'd expected it would have happened that day, I **_**never**_** would have brought you to watch. In fact, the point of that whole day was to convince your father that I'd given up on the idea. I knew he'd believe I wasn't planning to do it if I brought you.**

"So what happened?" Shinji asked.

**I don't know,** Yui said. **Either we really didn't understand EVA as well as we believed, or SEELE basically had the same idea I did and sabotaged Unit One.**

Shinji ran his fingers through his hair. "So you've been in there all this time?" he asked.

**Yes, and all this time, your father's been trying to figure out how to get me **_**out**_**, **Yui said. **He ignored my own wishes and dedicated his life to that goal. Shinji-kun, he intends to invoke his own Third Impact just so he can extract my soul from EVA and be with me forever.**

"And everyone else?" Shinji asked.

**I don't think he knows what will happen to them or cares,** Yui said.

"God," Shinji breathed. "I knew he was evil, but I never believed for a second that even he could…"

He trailed off, feeling unable to list his father's crimes. They just seemed too great in number and atrociousness to put words to.

**Shinji?** Yui spoke up. **There's something I really don't understand. How did I end up inside of you? No normal human body should be able to contain two souls.**

Shinji couldn't help but chuckle slightly and sat back down on the bed. "My body…this body," he corrected, "has been altered in order to contain two souls."

**How?** Yui asked, shocked. **Why?**

"That's also a long…" he was suddenly overcome by a huge yawn, "long story."

**It'll keep until tomorrow,** Yui said softly. **You're exhausted, Shinji-kun. Get some sleep. I have a feeling that you're going to be needing your rest for tomorrow.**

"Yeah," he agreed, "you're right."

The Third Child plugged the surveillance camera back in, then shut out the lights and got into bed. "Good night, mother," he whispered.

**Good night, Shinji-kun,** Yui replied warmly.

Almost immediately, he sensed the relative silence within his mind that let him know the other person he was sharing a body with had gone to sleep. He couldn't follow her example, however. His mind was whirling with thousands of different thoughts, and he was still reeling with the horrifying things his mother had revealed to him.

All in all, it was not the joyful reunion he would have wished for, though he supposed it still beat the first meeting he'd had with his father upon arriving to Tokyo-3.

Then there was the matter of Birdy, whom he'd nearly forgotten about entirely while speaking with his mother. It was obvious that the Federation officer was no longer inside his body (which was, in reality, _her_ body), which meant there was only one place she _could_ be: trapped within Unit One, as his mother had been for a decade now.

_I can't just leave Birdy in there, but…_

He had a pretty good idea what getting Birdy out would require, and he didn't want to pay that price, didn't want to allow Unit One to claim his mother once again.

_Ugh! Forget it for tonight!_ He commanded himself sternly. _Just go to sleep!_

He tried to push all his worries about nefarious cabals and doomsday scenarios from his mind so he could rest. Unsurprisingly, it proved a near impossible task, and Shinji tossed and turned in the hospital bed for over an hour before his weariness overwhelmed him and sleep finally claimed him.

Yet when it did, he was faintly smiling, despite everything.

* * *

Shinji woke at roughly 9 o'clock the next morning, which was far earlier than he would have liked to have arisen, considering how late he was up last night. However, once he was up, everything that had dogged him the previous night returned with a vengeance and further sleep became impossible.

"Mother?" he whispered, feeling irrationally afraid that she wouldn't be there any longer.

**Ohayo, Shinji-kun,** Yui answered sleepily.

He thought that he should say something after this brief greeting but didn't know what. Now that they had stopped comparing notes for the moment, he felt awkward having in her inside his head. It seemed strange and wrong, feeling so awkward with his own mother, but he supposed it was unrealistic of him to have expected anything else.

Wordlessly, he pressed the button to call the nurse, and in a few minutes one of the professional but utterly emotionless and unsympathetic nurses that NERV Medical seemed to hire exclusively arrived and briefly examined Shinji. She soon proclaimed him healthy and left to inform his guardian.

"Hopefully, we should be out of here soon," Shinji said quietly.

**Good,** Yui said. **Much as I'd like to spend the day just getting caught up with you, we just have too much to do.**

Shinji just nodded at that. He truthfully had no idea _how_ he should act upon the knowledge his mother had shared with him last night, and just thinking about it threatened to give him a migraine.

A few minutes later, the door to his little room _exploded_ open and Misato rushed inside before Shinji could even try to react, releasing a rather high pitched squeal of joy and throwing her arms around him in a crushing hug.

Of course, thanks to the height difference between the two of them, this resulted in Shinji's face getting smothered by Misato's considerable bust.

Shinji's face turned crimson. As if the whole situation wasn't embarrassing enough by itself, he immediately found himself wondering just what his mother would have to say about his guardian and what she might assume he'd been up to in her absence.

**My god, is that Katsuragi's daughter?** Yui asked instead when Misato released him.

Shinji frowned. "Huh?"

"I asked if you felt well enough to get out of here," Misato said.

"Oh!" Shinji exclaimed. He hadn't even realized that she'd said anything. "Yeah. Absolutely."

Misato gave him an odd look. "Are you sure that you're feeling all right, Shinji-kun?"

Shinji nodded vigorously. "Yes. Totally."

She smiled at him. "Well, if you're certain, then here, take this," she produced a set of his clothes from somewhere. "There should be plenty time for you to get yourself cleaned up, have something to eat, and still make it to school on time for the second half of the day."

Shinji blinked, surprised that Misato intended to have him back in school before the day was out.

_Damn Japanese work ethic,_ he thought.

The Third Child didn't bother protesting, though. He knew only too well how implacable Misato tended to get on issues like these. Indeed, his first encounter with Birdy had ultimately been caused by Misato's drive to see her wards properly educated in spite of any and all EVA-related interruptions to their schooling.

"Uh, okay, sure," Shinji said.

* * *

About a half an hour later, Shinji sought out Misato, now clean, dressed and very red in the face.

The Ops Director frowned at him. "Are you all right, Shinji-kun?" she asked. "You look a little flushed."

Shinji just nodded, neither willing nor able to let Misato know why he was currently doing his best impression of a cherry.

Over the months, bathing and such with Birdy in his head had eventually ceased to embarrass the hell out of him and had become routine. However, sharing his body with a _new_ person had made all of that fresh again, and because it was his mother, it was ten times worse than it had been with Birdy.

Shinji had been so mortified, in fact, that he'd attempted to shower with his eyes closed. He had refused to admit how foolish this was and open his eyes until he'd slipped on his bar of soap and had fallen on the hard floor of the shower.

Yui's reassurances that she'd seen him naked before—had even changed his diapers when he was a baby—had done nothing to make him feel better about the situation.

"I…I'm fine, Misato, really," he stammered.

She frowned and pressed the palm of her hand to his forehead. Once satisfied that he wasn't feverish, she smirked at him. "Why, Shinji-kun, do I _still_ get you all hot and bothered even after all this time?"

"What? N-no…I….I mean…" Shinji sputtered frantically before finally giving up and trailing off.

Misato laughed, but Shinji immediately noticed that it seemed a little forced.

"It's good to have you back," she said cheerfully. "I'm swamped right now, but as soon as I have a little time to breathe again, we're going to have a party to celebrate your return!"

Shinji forced himself to smile back, but his eyes narrowed slightly. Again, he could tell that Misato's enthusiasm was at least somewhat forced.

_What's been going on while I was out?_ He wondered, then shook his head slightly, realizing it was just one more thing he was probably going to have to put on the back burner. _Overwhelmed? Me? Nah!_

Of course, he had no way of knowing that the reason she wasn't quite her usual, cheerful self was because Kaji had up and vanished, something which had occurred very recently.

"Well, let's go," Misato said.

She set off, and Shinji fell in step beside her.

**So,** Yui spoke up. **She's your guardian?**

Shinji nodded.

**You've led a rather…interesting life lately, haven't you, Shinji-kun?** She asked in a dry tone of voice.

Shinji just blushed again and said nothing.

* * *

What part of the school day that Shinji managed to catch passed in a blur to him, and he found himself paying even less attention to the teacher than usual. The moment they were dismissed, Shinji bolted from the classroom and then the school as quickly as he could, since he wanted nothing less than to be confronted by Kensuke or Hikari about Toji.

Fortunately, his mother didn't seem to realize the reason behind his hasty retreat, as she said nothing.

Once he was clear of the danger zone, the Third Child set a course that would take him to the more run down section of the city, and a certain dump contained within in.

**Where are we going?** Yui ask once the neighborhood started becoming visibly more seedy. **NERV doesn't have you living around here, do they?**

He couldn't help but smile at the indignation he heard in her voice. "No, mother," he replied. "There's something here that I need to show you."

Shinji arrived at the dump a few minutes later and began climbing into the car where the entrance to Birdy's ship was located.

**Be careful!** Yui exclaimed worriedly. **This pile of cars looks like it could fall any second and…what's that?**

Shinji wordlessly opened the airlock and entered. Moments later, he was sprawled out on the floor of Birdy's ship.

_Ugh. One of these days, I am going to figure out how she manages to get in here without falling,_ he thought.

**What is this place?** Yui asked softly.

"It belongs to the person that I was sharing a body with before I was absorbed into EVA," Shinji explained.

Yui tried to nod, then discovered, as Shinji had dozens of times over, that it was impossible to do so while riding in the backseat of someone else's body. She had known that there was something besides Shinji inside of her son, but she had never quite been able to tell what; her link to the second entity had been practically nonexistent when Shinji piloted.

**Why were you sharing a body with someone to begin with? **Yui asked. **And **_**how**_**?**

Shinji sighed and approached the glass pod where his own damaged form lay. The lights within it went on as he drew near and Yui gasped.

"That's why," Shinji said. "I was fatally hurt, so I had to share a body with someone else to survive until this can be repaired. We're not actually in my body right now. This one belongs to someone else."

Yui was silent for several moments, just trying to take in what she'd been told. **I think you'd better start from the beginning,** she said.

Shinji nodded and did so, explaining what had happened, starting with that fateful night he encountered the Federation officer and going all the way to the present. He made certain to omit only details he deemed completely irrelevant—such as the incident at the onsen and Birdy's photo shoot with Kensuke.

**My god,** Yui said after he'd finally finished, a couple of hours later. **Gendo told Unit One that he'd gained some 'unexpected allies' but I never would have believed they were **_**aliens**_**.**

Shinji nodded. "I know what you mean."

He had been sharing a body with an alien for months, and even he still found it hard to believe at times.

"Hey, can we try something?" he asked. "I want to see if we can switch places."

**Like you and Birdy do?** Yui asked.

"Exactly like that," Shinji said. "If Father's doing all this to get you back, and we can change into you, then you can tell him to stop."

**I'm not sure it'll be that simple, Shinji-kun, but if you want to try and switch, then I'm all right with it,** Yui said. **How do we do it?**

Shinji deflated slightly. "I don't know," he said. "Birdy always handled it. Why don't you just try and will us to become you?"

**All right,** Yui said.

Shinji looked down at his right hand, hoping to see it shift and transform, but that didn't happen. His form appeared to be static without Birdy.

For the next several minutes, Shinji and Yui tried everything they could think of to invoke a transformation, but nothing they attempted worked. It looked as though they were stuck being Shinji.

"Great," he sighed, giving up at last and sinking into Birdy chair. "This means we can't make anyone believe us, except maybe for the people who would want to shut us up. What are we gonna do?"

**I'm not sure,** Yui said worriedly. **If not for Revi, I'd have a few ideas, but she throws a huge x-factor into the equation. We need more information before we can try anything.**

"Where are we supposed to get that from?" Shinji asked. "Birdy and I have been trying to figure out what's going on for months."

**Don't worry, Shinji-kun. I think I can actually be a little bit more useful than Birdy in finding NERV's darkest secrets,** Yui said, sounding bemused.

Shinji arched an eyebrow. "Well, it's going to have to wait until tomorrow," he said, checking his watch. "I have to get back to the apartment. Besides, I'm exhausted."

**That's right, you didn't get much sleep last night,** Yui said. **You poor thing.**

"Mother…" Shinji tried to wave off her sympathy, but he was unable to suppress a smile as he did it.

Not much later, the Third Child returned to the apartment and was pleased to find it empty. Wasting no time, he quickly cooked a simple meal, then put most of it in the oven to keep it warm. He then retreated to his room with his own portion, leaving a note to tell his house mates where he'd stowed dinner and claiming his absence was due to fatigue.

This was partially true, since he was feeling completely wiped out. However, his real motivation for disappearing was that he simply didn't want to deal with either of his house-mates at the moment; he felt too overloaded to deal with, well, anything or anyone else.

So, after he'd eaten, the Third Child lay down on his futon, started up his SDAT, and was soon asleep.

* * *

Author's Notes: Ugh, I hope you can all forgive the rather info-dumpy nature of this chapter. I couldn't have her inside Shinji's head and then _not_ go over the events that led up to the current situation with NERV, Gendo, and SEELE from her perspective. Simply cutting away to a different scene and then saying Yui had conveyed everything to Shinji when the story returned to them would have felt plain lazy, and it would have denied me the chance to inject the loving-mother comments from Yui.

By the way, trying to make all the little pieces of Yui's past fit together is surprisingly difficult to do, but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, Windows to the Past was originally supposed to be one chapter, but it just kept growing and I'm having difficulty making the second half work right, so I decided to split it in two. Don't worry, part two has less "stuff we already knew as told by Yui instead of Fuyutski" and more stuff that's my own invention. Oh, and things will actually happen. Yes, they will. If my muse is willing, part two should make its appearance in a day or two.

Anyway, thanks as always to my readers and reviewers. Now for a little fun.

* * *

Omakes!

Worst Practical Joke _Ever_

Within the confines of his head, he heard a woman groan, then gasp. **Sh-Shinji?**

The Third Child's eyes widened hugely.

That wasn't Birdy's voice.

"Mother?" he whispered.

**Nah!** Birdy said, speaking in her normal voice again. **April Fool's!**

Shinji balled his hands into fists and began to tremble with rage. "Damn it, bitch! Don't do that sort of thing!"

**Hey! Don't you call me a bitch!**

She sent one of his fists flying toward his face, and the Third Child knocked himself back down onto his bed.

"Damn it," Shinji groaned. "I thought we'd already run this joke into the ground…"

* * *

TMI

**This really isn't necessary, Shinji-kun,** Yui chided.

Shinji ignored her, keeping his eyes firmly shut as the warm water from the shower cascaded over him.

Then he happened to take a step back, and his foot made contact with the bar of soap he'd lost early on.

Shinji lost his balance immediately and went sprawling backwards, landing painfully on the hard floor.

Groaning in defeat (and pain), Shinji reluctantly opened his eyes and kept them open as he got up and continued to shower.

Of course, he eventually looked at himself, despite his best efforts not to.

And Yui giggled.

Shinji blushed ferociously, suddenly wanting to do nothing so much as crawl into a hole and die.

**Oh, I'm sorry, Shinji-kun,** Yui said. **It's really not a big deal. Besides, your father told me he was rather inadequate in his early teens, too.**

Shinji paled. "Mother…"

**But by the time we got to know each other,** she continued, not having heard him. **Well…**

* * *

"I DO NOT NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THAT!"

Misato blinked and turned to look at the door of the male pilots' locker room and showers. As Shinji was the only male EVA pilot, she knew he was alone in there.

"Crap," she muttered. "He _seemed_ like he was still sane at first, too."


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Eleven: **Windows to the Past (II)**

"YEEEHAAAW!"

Shinji started awake, immediately checking his clock and seeing that it was later than he usually got up.

He groaned. _And I went to bed early last night. I didn't think I was _that_ tired. Good thing it's Sunday._

**What was that noise?** Yui asked groggily.

"Misato," Shinji answered with a sigh.

The Third Child left his room, and after about twenty horrifically embarrassing minutes in the bathroom, finally headed to the kitchen, now fully dressed and ready to confront the day.

The scents wafting through the kitchen hit him like a punch in the face the moment he made it there, and he immediately figured out why.

Misato was standing by the stove, and he could hear the tell-tale sizzle of something frying. He grimaced.

"Good morning, Shinji-kun!" Misato said. "Would you like some eggs?"

She took the frying pan she'd been tending to off the stove and showed it to him, displaying a mass of gray that might or might not have once been eggs.

While Shinji was fixated on the gray "eggs" Misato had whipped up, Yui's attention was more on what the purple haired woman was wearing. Misato wasn't dressed for the day yet, and had on a long T-shirt. She obviously was _not_ wearing a bra.

**Shinji-kun**, Yui spoke slowly. **Are you and this woman living in sin?**

He could tell by the tone of his mother's voice that she was almost (but not _quite_) positive nothing sordid was actually happening, and he was strongly tempted to shout "No!" in response.

However, one didn't secretly share a body with another person for months without becoming at least somewhat savvy in the art of carrying on two conversations at once.

"Uh, no, no," he said in a much milder tone instead, answering both his mother and his guardian at the same time, then added, "Just toast for me."

Even Misato couldn't mess up toast, fortunately, so he grabbed a couple of slices and sat himself down at the table, eating quietly.

Not much later, Asuka emerged, also still in sleep clothes. "What's that smell?" she asked with her characteristic bluntness, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

Misato either didn't notice Asuka's obvious disgust or chose not to. "Eggs. Want some?"

Asuka muttered something in German under her breath, then shook her head, also grabbing some toast. Misato huffed in annoyance and put all the eggs on her own plate. She then sat down, dumped a liberal amount of curry powder onto them and then proceeded to dig in.

Shinji and Asuka traded a horrified glance, their faces twisting into matching expressions of revulsion.

**Is that Kyoko's daughter?** Yui suddenly spoke up. **Is that Asuka?**

Shinji nodded very slightly, silently musing on how odd it was that his mother seemed to know everyone in his life, despite having spent the previous decade trapped within EVA.

**So she got pulled into this, too,** Yui said softly.

"Okay, guys," Misato spoke abruptly. "NERV is calling all the pilots in for a sync test today, so after breakfast, we're off to headquarters."

Shinji paled at this news, realizing that he had _no_ idea exactly what would happen during a sync test right now.

"Wundervoll," Asuka grumbled.

Shinji frowned, momentarily forgetting his worries. Asuka usually enjoyed sync tests, if only because it gave her the chance to rub her higher ratio in his face.

_What's been going on while I was out?_ He wondered again.

"Hey, don't be like that," Misato chided her wards. "It'll just be a quick, routine test, and then you'll get the rest of the day off."

* * *

"I cannot make heads or tails of these readings," Ritsuko grumbled as she looked over Maya's shoulder at the techie's display. "This is all wrong!"

Misato blinked. The faux blonde looked like she was about to start tearing her hair out with frustration. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"The data we're getting from Unit One and Shinji doesn't conform to the baseline set in the past at all," Ritsuko grumbled. "I can't even begin to guess why."

"It must have something to with Shinji being absorbed into EVA," Misato said.

Ritsuko gave the Ops Director a scathing look. "Yes, I know that," she practically growled.

"Hey, no need to get nasty," Misato replied, frowning.

The scientist took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Sorry," she said, "but I hate it when I don't understand something, and this mystery is going to turn into a lot of work for me."

That, of course, was an understatement of colossal proportions. Gendo was going to want her to be absolutely sure that the foreign entity which had caused him such a headache was eliminated, but with these crazy readings, she had no idea where to begin. She was looking at a number of sleepless nights in the future.

"You're still getting a reading on his sync ratio, though, aren't you?" Misato asked.

"Yes," Ritsuko said. Then, instead of elaborating, she pressed the button on the control panel to open the plugs. "The test is concluded. Report to the control room."

The Children all gave their agreement, and a few minutes later, they made their way up to the room.

"Rei, your ratio has remained stable," Ritsuko said. "Asuka, you're down another four."

The redhead scowled darkly at this, clearly not pleased by the news but also not looking very surprised by it.

Then Akagi turned to face Shinji, and the Third Child couldn't help but swallow as he felt fear well up inside of him.

_Please don't have figured out what happened. Please don't have figured out what happened,_ he silently chanted.

"Shinji," Akagi said, "your sync ratio has plummeted down to 34 percent."

_Thank you God,_ Shinji thought immediately.

The Third Child sagged slightly in relief at this news. Fortunately, before anyone could notice that his reaction was not quite what it should have been, Misato spoke up.

"That's lower than it was the first time he was put inside EVA!" the Ops Director exclaimed.

Ritsuko nodded gravely, and Shinji remembered that he wasn't supposed to be pleased by this information. He bowed his head, looking down at his feet.

**Not really much of a surprise,** Yui said. **It was discovered after I was absorbed that it's much easier for someone to sync with EVA if the soul within it belongs to their mother. It's actually surprising you were able to do so well. You and Birdy must be close.**

_We've been trapped in the same body for months,_ he thought. _Becoming close was kind of inevitable._

"Any reason for your poor performance, Shinji?" Akagi asked.

"I don't know, Dr. Akagi," Shinji said contritely. "I'll try harder next time."

Akagi sniffed. "See that you do," she said. "NERV doesn't need to be stuck searching for new EVA pilots at this stage of the war."

Shinji winced. "I understand, Dr. Akagi."

Ritsuko sighed. "Then you're all dismissed for the day."

* * *

At his mother's urgings, Shinji went straight back to the apartment and retrieved his school laptop.

"I don't see how I'm supposed to hack into the MAGI with this thing," Shinji muttered as he picked it up.

**Have a little faith in your mother, Shinji-kun,** Yui chided, sounding more amused than anything else.

"If you say so," he said uncertainly, grabbing an external battery pack so that he wouldn't have to worry about running out of juice.

**Is that a portable printer in that box in the corner there?** Yui asked. **Take that, too. You can't save anything on your hard drive. The risk that NERV will find it is too great.**

Shinji rather doubted that Section Two's tech people were that much better than the guys who went around in black suits being useless, but given how greatly the stakes had increased, he supposed that it was better to err on the side of caution.

With his laptop and the printer in his arms, the Third Child left his room…and nearly ran right into Asuka.

"Oh, h-hello, Asuka," he greeted her nervously.

"Where are you going?" she asked without preamble, placing her hands on her hips.

Shinji hesitated, force of habit making him wait for Birdy to provide him with a believable lie. When he realized that this would not be forthcoming, his own brain kicked into gear with surprising speed.

"I'm, uh, going to the library," he said. "I have been out of school for a month."

Asuka rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "such a _good_ little boy."

The Second Child crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, that's going to have to wait, Third Child. I want a word with you."

Realizing he wasn't going to get out of this, Shinji just asked, "About what?"

"I want to know why you've been acting so weird for so long," Asuka said, her blue eyes boring into him.

"W-What do you mean?" he asked.

"You've been talking to yourself, disappearing for hours at a time, and just generally acting flakey," Asuka said. "Why?"

Shinji blinked, recalling the argument he'd had with Birdy while they were trapped within Unit One. Apparently, he'd been wrong in his belief that nobody even paid enough attention to him to notice his long absences. He was glad to be proven wrong, but this was about the worst possible time to find out that he was incorrect.

**Aw, she's worried about you,** Yui said. **How sweet.**

Shinji's eye twitched slightly. Fortunately, Asuka failed to notice.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Asuka," Shinji lied.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't try and play dumb with me," she warned him. "Just tell me what's wrong with you."

"No, really, there's nothing going on!" he said as adamantly as possible.

"Fine, don't tell me," Asuka huffed. "See if I care! I don't know why I even bothered with this to begin with!"

With that she stormed off into the apartment, clearly offended. Feeling guilty, Shinji opened his mouth to call her back, then realized that he had no idea what he could say to her to placate her.

Except the truth, but that wasn't an option.

Shaking his head, Shinji departed, en route back to NERV.

* * *

A half an hour later, Shinji was surreptitiously crawling into the space that was directly beneath the MAGI Balthazar. The chamber he entered was bathed in red light coming from a number of screens on the walls, but otherwise there didn't seem to be any other source of illumination.

"What is this place?" he asked as he closed the little panel he'd entered through. "And why is it so cold in here?" he added, realizing he could actually see his breath.

**This is a MAGI sub node,** Yui explained. **And it's so cold because the electronics would overheat otherwise. There should be jacks were you can connect your laptop to this place.**

Shinji looked around and soon spotted the things on the wall. Pulling a cable from his pocket, he connected his puny laptop to the sub node of the mighty supercomputer, then booted up his machine.

**Okay, good,** Yui said. **Now, you're going to log in as Gendo.**

"Huh? How am I supposed to do that?" Shinji asked, bewildered. "I don't have his password."

**A closely guarded secret of Gendo's is that he can't remember passwords for the life of him, so he uses the same one for just about everything and never changed it,** Yui said. **Use "we'll always have Paris." No spaces and no punctuation.**

Shinji frowned. "Why would Father use _that_ as his password?" he asked incredulously.

**We went to see the movie **_**Casablanca**_** on our first date,** Yui explained quietly. **Also, our honeymoon was in Paris.**

Shinji blinked and said nothing, thunderstruck by the idea that his father had once been a romantic.

**Like I told you, he was a different man once,** Yui said.

The Third Child just shook his head and carefully entered the password his mother had given him. He was amazed despite himself when it worked, allowing him access to everything his father kept on the MAGI.

_Oh boy, where do I even start?_ Shinji wondered with a mental groan as he began looking through his father's numerous files.

He scrolled through the list, finding nothing very extraordinary at first. There were budget reports, reports from Dr. Akagi about EVA, reports from Captain Chiron, reports from Misato, but nothing that he found particularly interesting.

Then he happened to find a folder labeled "Instrumentality."

**Bingo,** Yui said as Shinji opened it.

Contained within said folder were several text files, the names of which all immediately got the Third Child's attention. They were named The Scenario, Revi, Third, and Second. He quickly opened the first one and began to read.

It wasn't a formally written document, more like something his father had created solely for his own use, part personal log and part outline. At first, Shinji didn't see any information that his mother hadn't already revealed to him.

**You can't read all of this now,** Yui said. **We don't want to spend more time down here than necessary. Besides, it's bad for your eyes, reading off a computer screen, especially in a dark room like this. Print all this out.**

Shinji nodded and hooked up the portable printer, which he loaded with paper from a ream he'd "borrowed" from NERV's accounting department. He quickly had all four documents either printing or queued up.

However, as all the documents totaled over two hundred pages, Shinji had plenty of time to read as he waited for the hard copies to be made, so he began to skim the one named The Scenario again.

Ten minutes later, he was feeling lightheaded and sick and was trying to determine what lovely piece of information was most responsible for that. It was a close contest between discovering that Rei—the girl he'd accidentally felt up once—had been created partly from his own mother's DNA, and finding out what Unit One had been expected to do against the Fourteenth Angel and the fact that Akagi had the general idea as to why it hadn't.

**My god, he practically cloned me,** Yui said. **Shinji-kun, please tell me that he did something, anything, to keep anything from happening between you and this Rei girl.**

"Uh, no, though nothing did happen, really," he said.

**What was he **_**thinking?! **_Yui groaned.

"You got me," Shinji said, closing the Scenario file.

He didn't think he could take much more of that right now, so he turned his attention to the remaining documents. Shinji knew he probably should have started reading the one on Revi next, but he was fairly sure that the one named "Third" was about him. He didn't know why he had a file all to himself, but he intended to find out.

The opening paragraph of the document hit him like a punch in the gut.

_It has come to my attention that if the scenario is to succeed, then the pilot of Evangelion Unit One must be made to take certain actions which will bring him little or no benefit and may even be directly counter to his own self-interests, up to and including becoming suicidal. Given the likelihood that Unit One will refuse all potential pilots save for Shinji Ikari, NERV must see to it that he is properly conditioned as he develops so that he is usable for the scenario._

He had always believed that his father had completely abandoned him, but the reality turned out to be even worse. Gendo Ikari had watched him from a distance for years, ready to thwart any attempt Shinji might have made to become something other than the introverted, timid teenage boy he was.

Gendo had apparently even managed to get some psychologists to assist him in fine tuning his endeavors, judging by the notes which had been inserted into the document, all of whom were doctors. Several talked about how his feelings of worthlessness could easily be utilized to make him feel as though he only had true value when he piloted EVA, and how that would bind him to NERV, regardless of how much he hated piloting.

Shinji was ashamed to see how little difficulty he'd given his father during the years before he'd come to Tokyo-3. Indeed, there were several mentions of how "fortunate" it was that he seemed to naturally fit into the scenario.

**I'll kill him,** Yui said suddenly, her words soft but obviously laced with rage. **I'll kill him for he did to my son.**

Shinji had no idea how exactly she planned to accomplish this, but he decided it was probably better not to ask about that. Instead, he just kept reading, soon coming upon an entry that made him frown in confusion.

_Haru Izuki offered lucrative position at Matsushiro base, thus removing Natsume Izuki from Shinji Ikari's town._

**Who was Natsume?** Yui asked.

Shinji didn't answer her right away, mostly because he didn't immediately have an answer for her. He was about to admit as much when it suddenly came to him.

"Natsume was a girl I knew in school when I was 12. She had brown hair and brown eyes," he said. "I dropped my textbooks one day and she helped me pick them up. I thanked her, and she said that she was pleased to help such a cute boy. I, uh, remember feeling like I had butterflies in my stomach after she said that." He added with a blush.

Yui laughed. **My Shinji-kun's first crush! Then what happened?**

"I never saw her again," he answered, instantly killing the brief moment of levity. "She moved away, apparently to Matsushiro."

**Of course,** Yui said, disgusted that Gendo had so casually crushed something so innocent and cute in the name of obtaining his own selfish desires.

Shinji read on, and received what might have been the first piece of truly good news when he found out that Misato was _not_ in on any of this. Apparently, his father had decided that his "conditioning" was deeply ingrained enough that an "uncontrolled element" like the Ops Director wouldn't be damaging to the scenario.

Shinji did, however, discover that the praise his father had given him after the Tenth Angel hadn't been sincere in the least, but another shrewdly calculated act.

If it were possible, this made Shinji hate him even more.

_Okay, I think that's enough of that for now,_ he thought, closing that document.

He was _sorely_ tempted to move onto the secret records NERV kept on Asuka, finding himself intensely curious about why she was the way she was. However, he knew that he had no right to go poking through that information, as a lot of it was no doubt very personal.

One thing Shinji couldn't help but note, though, was that the records on Asuka were over four times longer than his own. He wondered if Asuka had proven more difficult to mold into what NERV wanted her to be, or if there was more information on her because she'd actually been in NERV's employ since she was a very young child.

_Probably the first one. Asuka's always difficult. Why should she be any easier on NERV?_ He thought wryly.

"There's no file like this on Rei," he muttered, more to himself than his mother. "There's some stuff on what she is, but nothing on why she is, like there is for me and Asuka."

**There's no copy of the Dead Sea Scrolls in here, either. We'll have to rely on my memory for our information about them,** Yui noted with a sigh. **Gendo always did say that the only way to be completely sure that information was safe from hackers was to keep it out of a computer. Guess he was right.**

"What're we gonna do?" Shinji asked despairingly.

It was just like when he'd first been brought to NERV. Suddenly he found himself with the unwanted responsibility for the fate of the whole world, and there didn't seem to be anyone he could pass it to or any other escape from it.

Suddenly, the printer stopped, at last done with its assigned tasks. After listening to it go about its work for so long, the resulting silence seemed deafening.

**The first thing we're going to do is get out of here,** Yui said. **After that, we're going to have to read over Gendo's notes more closely, especially the ones about the aliens. Then we'll figure something out from there.**

Shinji was suddenly hit with an inspiration. "But we're inside the MAGI, with access to Father's account. Can't we just send all this to the UN or something?" he asked, grasping on this way of solving their problems like a downing man would grasp onto a rope.

**I'm afraid it's not that easy, Shinji-kun,** Yui replied. **Even back in my day, there were fail-safes in place to prevent that sort of thing. We can't send any classified data outside of NERV without authorization from **_**two**_** senior personnel, and Professor Fuyutski has never shared a password with me.**

Shinji slumped. "I guess that _would_ have been too easy," he sighed.

* * *

Asuka was still in a huff when he returned to the apartment, and Misato was working late at NERV that evening. As a result, Shinji was able to eat dinner alone in his room again, which gave him a chance to continue reading.

As it turned out, however, there wasn't very much left to be discovered, or at least, nothing as earth shattering and horrifying as what they had already found out. The situation with Revi was about what Shinji and Birdy had already suspected: the alien crime lord and the Commander of NERV had entered in alliance a good while back, both pledging to aid one another's insane plans.

Yui also took the opportunity to dictate everything she remembered of the text of the Dead Sea Scrolls to her son, who dutifully wrote everything down. Unfortunately, after spending a decade trapped within EVA, her memory of the ancient prophecy was more than a little sketchy. She could only remember bits and pieces, and of these, there were very few she recalled the exact words for.

So, after hours of reading and writing, Shinji and Yui were left with the same very basic question they'd had before.

"What are we going to do?" he asked.

**I don't know,** Yui admitted at last. **The whole situation's so dangerously complicated. Ideally, we expose all of NERV and SEELE's secrets to the whole world. The problem is that the schemes are so outlandish that it'll be difficult to make people believe it. It's not like we can just stick all those documents into a big envelope, mail them to the UN, and expect anyone to believe any of it.**

Shinji nodded. He could just see his father painting his whole, horrible scenario as a complete fabrication made by a petulant teenager who was starting to crack under the pressure of piloting EVA.

"And if we try and go public with this information by going to the media and something goes wrong…"

**Exactly,** Yui said with a sigh. **Really, if we do just about anything and it doesn't work, things will turn bad very fast.**

"So we have to be careful, no matter what we do," Shinji said.

**Right,** Yui said. **Hmm, perhaps we could enlist Professor Fuyutski's help.**

"No way," Shinji objected at once. "Father seems to have him pretty cowed. It's way too big a risk."

**You're right,** Yui agreed reluctantly.

The two lapsed into silence, both suffering from a rather severe lack of inspiration.

It wasn't that neither of them had any ideas. Both of them had plenty of those, but the problem was the incredible level of risk involved. They couldn't afford a single misstep, and neither of them knew a course of action that would guarantee success. That Gendo could rely upon Revi's army of Arcezoids to aid him only made the situation more impossible, as did the fact that NERV had to continue in some form, lest the Angels destroy humanity.

**Shinji-kun?** Yui spoke after a few minutes.

"Yes?"

**I think I'm going to have trade places with Birdy,** Yui said.

"Wha-what?" Shinji sputtered. "No, mother, you can't—"

**I have to, Shinji-kun,** Yui said sadly. **It looks like I've done all I can to help you stop your father. Birdy's some kind of police officer, and I'm just a scientist; she'd certainly be more suited for something like this than I am.**

"But…"

**She can do a better job of backing you up than I can,** Yui pressed forward.** Even if Gendo discovers that you know about his scenario, Birdy still might be able to protect you.**

"Mother…"

**It'll be easier for you to convince the people you know you can trust about all of this if you can transform into her as way of proof. And she's the only one who can possibly deal with Revi and her ilk. Besides, I have no right to this body. It belongs to her. You know that.**

"But I just got you back," Shinji protested weakly.

Not since he was four had anyone so clearly cared about him just because he _was_. Not since he was four had he ever felt so unquestionably accepted and wanted by someone, and he was extremely reluctant to give that up.

**I know, and please believe me that I don't want to leave you after not being there for you for so many years, but Gendo has to be stopped,** Yui said miserably.

"But…how could we even make that happen?" Shinji asked.

**Without certain restraints placed upon it, EVA will absorb anyone who attempts to synchronize with it, regardless of the circumstances,** Yui explained. **If we remove those restraints, you could be absorbed again. I'll help you return with Birdy this time.**

"I…I don't want to."

**Neither do I, but we have to.**

* * *

Kaji sighed heavily, taking a sip of his coffee and rubbing his eyes. SEELE had ordered him to start snooping about in earnest days ago, and so far he had turned up none of the answers that they were looking for. All he knew for certain was that Ikari's plans had apparently jumped off the rails, but that wasn't news to the old men.

"Can I top you off?"

He looked up to see a waitress hovering over him with a coffee pot in hand. The spy nearly moved to shut his laptop, but he soon realized that there was no danger of her looking at the screen and see something she shouldn't. She was far too fixated on him.

_Still got it,_ he thought with more weariness than satisfaction.

"Sure thing," he said, holding up his mug.

The waitress batted her eyelashes at him as she poured, then walked off with a distinct sway of her hips. Kaji just shook his head as she went off to tend to other customers.

_God, I miss Misato,_ he thought.

Unfortunately, he had good reason to believe that his job was going to be getting a lot more dangerous in the near future, and he didn't want Misato anywhere near him when _that_ happened.

He turned back to reviewing the files he'd gotten by "borrowing" Lieutenant Aoba's password. Unfortunately, there didn't appear to be anything there that was of interest.

Kaji shook his head. He knew how the game worked, and he also knew that if he didn't produce the desired information soon, SEELE would take much more aggressive actions to get what they wanted. He would doubtlessly get caught in the crossfire between them and NERV soon after.

The spy took another sip of his drink, then grimaced and pulled the mug back from his lips in surprise. The brew was extremely bitter for some reason.

At that very moment, his waitress happened to catch his eyes. She smiled coyly at him, and force of habit made Kaji smile back through his grimace. She then turned away, and the spy put his mug down and sighed.

* * *

Isolating variables was one of the keys to the scientific method. If the cause of a certain phenomenon was in doubt, the proper course of action was to test all the potential causes separately.

At least, that was how it was supposed to work. In reality, isolating the variables could often be a complete bitch.

"Like right now, for instance," Ritsuko said as she glowered down at her display, as if the mere force of her glare could make it change.

It stubbornly continued to say UNIT ONE DUMMY PLUG: REFUSED.

"Is something wrong, sempai?" Maya asked, approaching her mentor.

"This was supposed to be the easy part," Ritsuko sighed in exasperation. "We use the Dummy Plug to activate EVA without the human element and then our readings confirm that the foreign entity is within it and not Shinji. Then we can really begin the process of isolating and removing it. Should be simple, but Unit One just had to be stubborn."

"Do we really even need to bother with this?" Maya asked slowly. "I mean, the idea that the foreign entity within Shinji is rather…preposterous."

"Oh, I quite agree," Ritsuko said ruefully, "but Ikari will chew my ass off if I don't make certain to cover all the bases. We have to confirm this before we really set to work on Unit One, but I don't see how we can do that if we can't activate the EVA without Shinji."

The two women lapsed into silence for several moments as they mulled over the problem. Finally, Maya spoke up.

"If we can't confirm that the entity is within Unit One, why don't we confirm that it's _not_ inside of Shinji?" the techie suggested.

Ritsuko frowned. "How could we do that? We can't put Shinji back inside Unit Zero after what happened last time."

The faux blonde winced at the mere memory of _that_ debacle. They had put Shinji into Rei's EVA as part of NERV's cross compatibility experiments, only to have the prototype Evangelion go berserk in the exact same manner that it had during Rei's disastrous first contact experiment. Shinji hadn't been injured, thankfully, but all the data from that test had somehow been corrupted, rendering it useless.

"I guess we could try putting him Unit Two," Ritsuko continued, "but we're not even sure he can sync with it at all, and Asuka would blow a gasket. I wouldn't want to deal with that for something that might not even work."

"The Pribnow Box has been repaired from the whole ordeal with the Eleventh Angel," Maya said. "We could use one of the dummy bodies."

Ritsuko shook her head. "The dummy bodies only work because they can be wirelessly connected to the real EVA Units, and removing Unit One from the equation would be the whole point of such a test. You know that Maya."

"Yes, but what if we were to create a simulated Evangelion mind like the Dummy System uses a simulated human mind?" Maya asked.

Ritsuko paused, rapidly going over the idea in her mind and looking for possible flaws.

The mind of an Evangelion (sans any influence from its attendant soul) was really quite simple; it was all primitive instincts and savagery and bloodlust. With all the data NERV and GEHRIN before it had collected on EVA, creating a simulation of such a mind for a pilot to sync with would be easy. The thing wouldn't be able to project an AT field, of course, but they didn't need it to.

"I _knew_ there was a reason I hired you, Maya," Ritsuko said at last, smiling for the first time that day.

* * *

"I can't believe what I'm getting ready to do," Shinji grumbled as he lugged the heavy toolbox he'd just purchased through the streets of Tokyo-3.

**You won't be stuck inside of EVA for a month this time, Shinji-kun,** Yui attempted to reassure him. **The only reason you spent so long in "limbo" is because you became one with EVA accidentally—without intent.**

Shinji just shook his head; his fear of getting trapped inside of Unit One for a long stretch of time was only part of the reason why he was so reluctant to be absorbed again in an attempt to get Birdy back to where she belonged.

Of course, Yui knew this, but there was little point in discussing the other reasons. They both hated the idea of returning things to the way they'd been previously, but they both had acknowledged the grim necessity of it.

"Are you sure we'll even be able to get enough time alone with Unit One to remove the restraints on it?" Shinji asked, now huffing and puffing slightly as he finally arrived at the apartment building.

**Pretty sure,** Yui replied. **In my day, at least, no one actually stood and guarded the EVA Units all the time. The things are at the center of one of the most security bases in the world, and they're far too large to steal and not easy to sabotage unless you know how. Nobody ever saw the need for a night watchman.**

Shinji nodded, finally reaching the door to the apartment. He quietly opened it, then let out a small sigh of relief when he saw the absence of any shoes by the door. Neither Misato nor Asuka was home, which was fortunate, since he had no idea how he'd explain the toolbox if he was caught with it.

Heading to his room, Shinji quickly stashed the toolbox beneath his bed. It wasn't the best hiding place in the world, but it would suffice until he got to take the thing to NERV.

The Third Child was just about to collapse onto his bed for a well deserved breather when his cell phone rang. Groaning and silently praying it wasn't an Angel attack, he answered it.

"Hai, moshi moshi."

"Shinji, this is Ritsuko," the voice of the faux blonde came from his phone. "I need you to come into NERV for a special test right now."

His first response was to roll his eyes in annoyance. _Thanks so much for taking the effort not to disrupt my life and schedule more than necessary,_ he thought sarcastically.

Then he realized what the most likely purpose of this "special test" would be, and he paled.

He'd known that something like this might be forthcoming, of course, ever since he'd read in his father's files that Akagi believed there was a "foreign entity" within Unit One or himself. Since he couldn't really have done anything about it, though, he'd just decided to hope that Akagi didn't get anywhere in her attempts to find and remove the mysterious third soul.

Now he wished that he'd given the matter more thought as he desperately racked his brain for a good excuse for refusing to take this test. What could he say that would get him out of this but wouldn't arouse suspicion?

He had no damn idea.

"Shinji?" Ritsuko said. "Are you there?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm here. I'll get to headquarters as soon as I can," he said, grimacing.

"Good," Akagi said, then hung up.

"This is not going to go well," he groaned as he put his phone back in his pocket.

* * *

An hour later, the Third Child found himself sitting inside of one the dummy bodies' entry plugs, doing his best to sync with the thing's utterly blank, simulated mind. It was a rather disturbing sensation, but it wasn't nearly as bad as his sinking suspicions about what would happen once the test was actually done.

He had urged his mother to go to sleep prior to entering the entry plug, but Yui had found herself unable to do. Shinji couldn't really blame her; he felt so nervous and jittery that he certainly couldn't have taken a nap at the moment, either, regardless of what might be riding on it.

Really, from his perspective, the only positive thing about this whole experience was that he got to wear his plug suit this time, instead of needing to be naked again.

It was a rather pathetic silver lining on an enormous dark cloud.

**Don't worry, Shinji-kun,** Yui said. **I don't think that we're nearly as doomed as you believe we are.**

Shinji actually had to resist the urge to laugh as a brief surge of dark humor swept over him. _Great, now I know where I inherited the rosy optimism gene from, too._

* * *

"What's the readout look like, Maya?" Ritsuko asked.

The faux blonde and the petite brunette sat alone in the Pribnow Box's control room, not requiring the group of other technicians that had been present the last time the dummy bodies had been put to use. This was, after all, supposed to be just a routine test.

"Mostly normal," Maya said, her tone of voice rather uncertain.

Ritsuko frowned. "Mostly normal?"

Maya nodded and gestured to her displays. "Shinji's mostly conforming to the baseline he set before we started recording signs of the entity, but there are some fluctuations I simply can't account for."

Ritsuko leaned over Maya's shoulder to look at her screen. "That's the reason for the fluctuations," she said, indicating the readouts of Shinji's life signs.

Maya looked, immediately noticing that Shinji's heart rate, blood pressure and rate of respiration were all elevated above normal for him, though not within the danger zone.

"He's jumpy as hell, probably because of what happened last time he was in a dummy body," Ritsuko said, trying not to grimace as she recalled the whole ordeal with the Eleventh Angel. "That's probably what's causing the fluctuations."

Maya frowned skeptically. "Do you really believe that Shinji could become so flustered by this test that it would cause these effects?"

"Maya, this is _Shinji_ we're talking about here," Ritsuko replied.

The techie mulled over this for a moment, then shrugged, deciding that her mentor had a point there.

"I think we've confirmed what we already knew: the entity isn't inside of Shinji," Ritsuko said. "End the test, Maya. Now we can finally start focusing our efforts where they belong, on Unit One."

* * *

Twenty minutes later found Shinji in his locker room, doing his best to change while staring up at the ceiling tiles the whole time and feeling very confused.

"Okay," he said, "why am I here and not strapped down to a dissection table somewhere in Terminal Dogma?"

He could hear the smile in his mother's voice. **Professor Fuyutski once told me that the souls of a mother and her children are virtually identical,** Yui explained. **I think the current theory says that's because the souls of children are probably formed from a tiny piece of the mother's soul. Anyway,** **they didn't realize anything was out of the ordinary with you because our souls "look" so much alike that they're indistinguishable.**

Shinji frowned. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

The whole test would have been a lot less unpleasant if he hadn't spent the entirety of it feeling certain that he was going to become Akagi's new lab rat the moment it was over.

**I wasn't completely sure that we were safe,** Yui said. **Meta-physical biology isn't my specialty. I didn't want to give you false hope in case it turned out that I was wrong.**

Shinji just shook his head. "Well, I guess that's one less thing we have to worry about," he said. "Now we just have to try and remove the restraints on EVA without getting caught."

* * *

That evening Shinji wasn't able to eat alone in his room again, but dinner was so quiet that he might as well have. Misato was oddly subdued and barely said a thing, while Asuka was clearly still mad at him and thus not speaking to him.

Shinji was guiltily relieved by this state of affairs. He felt bad about having played dumb with Asuka and angering her after she'd actually shown some concern for him, despite how necessary it might have been. Likewise, he was worried about Misato and wondering why she was so quiet.

However, the idea of having to confront either issue, either of which he would have found daunting at the best of times, was simply too much at the current moment. So, once dinner was concluded and cleaned up afterwards, Shinji retreated to his room where he attempted to work on the massive pile of homework he'd found waiting for him upon his return from Unit One and waited.

At roughly midnight, he judged it finally safe to leave. Shinji got out of bed, then dressed in a tan outfit he'd recently picked up on his mother's advice. It vaguely resembled the uniforms worn by NERV's technicians. He knew there was no way anyone who got a decent look at him would mistake him for tech, but if it was just a fleeting glance, then the "disguise" might suffice.

Then, making as little noise as possible, he extracted his new tool box from beneath his bed and then crept out of the apartment, barely daring to breathe until he was out of the building and on the street.

"I can't believe that I'm probably going to be sneaking out of the apartment more often now with you in my head than I did when Birdy was in there," he commented with a smirk, feeling almost giddy with relief that he hadn't been caught yet.

**Well, I try not to be one of those dull moms,** Yui replied, also in good humor.

By the time they'd reached headquarters, Shinji's good mood had long ago dissipated, mostly from the strain of carrying the heavy toolbox all the way across the city. No buses or trains ran at this hour, so he'd had to hoof it.

"Okay, maybe I won't actually start working on it tonight," he panted as he slid an access card through the reader at the base entrance.

Said access card was Misato's rather than his own. The Ops Director was known to keep irregular hours, so no one would get suspicious if NERV's records showed her swiping in during the middle of the night. If he used his own card, however, people might start asking questions he couldn't answer.

"Borrowing" the card was just one more thing he'd done that he could logically justify by saying it was for the greater good but which made him feel guilty anyway.

"I've never been here at night unless there was an Angel," Shinji whispered as he walked through the empty halls. "This place is like a tomb."

**So much the better for us,** Yui said.

Nodding, Shinji stepped into an elevator that would take him to the cage where Unit One was currently berthed. When he arrived, he was surprised by what he saw.

The cage was empty as everywhere else he'd been so far, but it was obvious that Tech Division One had been rather busy earlier. A lot of scaffolding had been erected all around the EVA, presumably to give the techs and engineers easy access to all parts of the war machine, and a few of its armor plates had even been removed, exposing the skin beneath.

**Dr. Akagi must have decided she needs to practically dismantle Unit One in order to fix it,** Yui said, pleased by this discovery. **That should make what we want to do much easier.**

"Good," Shinji said, finding an out of the way corner to hide his toolbox, then quickly saying a silent prayer that no one stole it, "because this has been difficult enough already."

**Unfortunately, Shinji-kun, I think it's only going to get more difficult from here on out,** Yui said.

The Third Child nodded, then stood silently in front of EVA for a few seconds. "Don't worry, Birdy," he said. "We're going to get you out. Just sit tight."

* * *

Shinji spent the next two weeks discovering that his mother had a gift for understatement. At least every other night, he crept out of the apartment and went to NERV where he would work and sweat for hours to get at the vital parts of Unit One, then adjust them so that EVA would have a stronger connection to the pilot.

It was quite the task for a fourteen-year-old boy, despite the way Ritsuko and her underlings were inadvertently helping him by poking around in Unit One themselves. That he had to make everything he did appear to be caused by human error rather than sabotage didn't make it easier. Neither did his lack of sleep for that matter, which caused him to feel like a zombie most of the time.

Yet besides his weariness, things were going surprisingly well. He hadn't come close to getting caught even once when he went out to tinker with EVA, allowing him to actually go about his late night excursions without a pounding heart or sweating palms. NERV security never seemed to realize or even suspect he was ever there at night.

This might have had something to do with SEELE starting to make deep cuts in NERV's security budget as they prepared for certain acts of unpleasantness they suspected they'd need to perform in the future. Shinji didn't know this, but had he found out about it, he wouldn't have been surprised.

In the meantime, life went on as it always did. School continued its seemingly eternal grind (he still hadn't gotten up the courage to face Kensuke or Hikari, let alone visit Toji in the hospital), he had another sync test (he'd gone down a point from his previous abysmal score, probably thanks to his exhaustion, but Asuka's withering sync ratio had lost another five points), and his life at home remained unusually quiet.

Of course, things never remained quiet forever in the life of Shinji Ikari.

"Okay, done. Now what?" the Third Child asked, after he'd finished loosening a series of bolts on something his mother referred to as one of EVA's internal restrictor plates.

It amazed how small so many of the Evangelion's crucial components were. As it turned out, the giant plates of metal which served both as armor and bindings were only one part of a series of components holding EVA in check. Many of the restraints placed on EVA functioned by pinching certain nerves on it, and the pieces that did these jobs were often no larger than his hand.

**I think that should do it,** Yui said thoughtfully, doubling checking her mental to-do list to ensure that they hadn't forgotten anything. **We've compromised both the restraints and the plug ejection system, so that should do it. Yes, we're done.**

"_Finally_," Shinji said, relieved. "I wasn't sure how much more—"

He stopped abruptly as he heard one of the automatic doors to the cage whooshing open. In the quiet of the huge chamber, the soft sound seemed deafening.

**Someone's coming!** Yui hissed. **Hide! Hurry!**

His mother's words jolting him into action, Shinji moved as quickly and quietly as he could to get completely behind EVA. Once he was in his desired position, whoever was entering the cage would have to join him on the scaffolding to spot him.

Despite this, Shinji felt beads of sweat running down his brow as he pressed himself against EVA and waited.

"Hello, Yui-chan," came an unmistakable voice from in front of the EVA.

**Gendo,** Yui hissed.

"There have been some difficulties with the scenario," Gendo spoke. "As I'm sure you're aware, Unit One does not possess the Fruit of Life, as it should by now. Nevertheless, I fully expect to see you within the space of a few short months."

**Why do you think I want to see you?** Yui grumbled.

"I will alter destiny in order to be with you again, my Yui," Gendo continued. "Unit One will have its S2 organ, one way or another. Three Angels yet remain."

**And the Dead Sea Scrolls say nothing about them surrendering **_**their**_** S2 organs to the shadow of Lilith,** Yui replied.

Gendo fell silent for a long moment, and Shinji began to wonder if the man had departed the cage and he'd just missed the sounds of him doing so. He was considering taking a quick peek around Unit One to check when Gendo spoke again.

"It is…truly something I'm doing for you, Yui," he said, with a chuckle that was both dark and weary at once. "In the end, though, it shall be worth it, and it is right. You are the only human who ever truly deserved to live."

**What about our son?** Yui said, appalled. **Oh, he's gone completely insane.**

Shinji said nothing as he stood there, straining his ears and trying to breathe as quietly as possible. After a few seconds, he heard his father's retreating footsteps and the sound of the door opening again.

He waited a few minutes after that, just to ensure that he didn't run into his father in the halls, then emerged from his hiding place and began to depart the base. He met no one in the halls of NERV and was soon walking through the darkened streets of Tokyo-3.

**Shinji-kun?** Yui spoke up.

"Yes?" he asked.

**He loved you once,** she said softly. **The first time he held you, you could see it in his eyes, as clear as day. He loved you as much as any father ever loved his first born son. I think he became so attached to SEELE's vision for paradise because he wanted to build a perfect world for us—for you as much as for me.**

"Oh," was all Shinji could think to reply.

**I suppose it must be a difficult thing to believe for you,** Yui said.

"No, I believe it," Shinji replied. "I do remember some things from before you were absorbed, sort of. I remember that everything used to be…different."

Yui was silent for a moment. **Shinji-kun, I don't know why exactly he stopped caring for you after I was lost, but I want you to know that that was **_**his**_** failing, not yours. Understand?**

"Yes," he said softly. "Mother?"

**Yes, Shinji-kun?**

"I'm going to miss you when you're back inside of EVA."

* * *

The next day dawned bright and sunny, with nary a cloud present in the perfectly blue sky.

_The weather never could cooperate with my moods,_ Kaji thought with a flash of dark humor.

The spy sobered quite quickly however, then looked at the card he held in his hands. "It's red," he muttered to himself. "The color of blood."

He shook his head, deciding that melodrama didn't suit him, not even now, as the end drew near. He had a job to do, and despite several people's opinions to the contrary, he _was_ a professional. It was time to go to work.

But first…

He walked into a phone booth and made a call. "Hi, you've reached Misato Katsuragi! I'm not here right now, so leave a message," came the cheerful voice of the NERV Ops Director.

* * *

"The Vice Commander has been kidnapped?" Misato gasped.

"That's correct," Captain Chiron replied. "Section Two believes that such a feat could only be accomplished by someone with intimate knowledge of NERV's security protocols."

Misato's eyes narrowed. "You believe Kaji's behind this, don't you?"

"Agent Kaji is high on our list of suspects, yes," Chiron replied. "And due to your relationship with him, I'm afraid you cannot be allowed to run around free at this time. I'm sorry to do this to a colleague, but I have no choice."

_You're acting unusually professional,_ she thought, and was sorely tempted to say.

However, she probably would have done the same thing if she were in his situation; for once, she couldn't really criticize his actions. Also, she knew why he was being so polite about it. He was in enough trouble as it was thanks to Fuyutski's disappearance; Chiron had no need to renew his animosity with the Ops Director.

And as circumstances more or less put her at his mercy, she decided it was probably for the best if she, too, played nice, just this once.

"I understand," Misato said, handing over her gun and ID card.

A pair of nameless Section Two goons led her to a holding cell and then closed the door. Misato sighed deeply, finally allowing her frame to sag in distress.

"Damn it, Kaji," she whispered as she sat down on the hard bunk. "You'd better live through whatever you've gotten yourself into now."

* * *

The moment school let out that afternoon, Shinji Ikari headed straight toward NERV, despite the lack of tests scheduled for that day. The Third Child moved with purpose, though he wasn't prepared to tell anyone who didn't know already just what that purpose was.

Once he reached the base, Shinji went straight to Dr. Akagi's office, where he found the scientist sitting at her computer, looking extremely tired and frazzled from putting in too many hours at NERV.

Shinji could sympathize.

Ritsuko didn't immediately notice that he'd come in, and Shinji suspected she might be dozing. He cleared his throat, and she started and turned to face him.

"Oh, Shinji, what are you doing here?" she asked, rubbing her eyes and clearly holding back a yawn.

"I think I know why my sync ratio's been so low lately," he blurted out.

Ritsuko seemed to perk up with interest at this. "And what do you believe the cause of it is, Shinji?"

Shinji took a deep breath. "I think it's because I'm afraid," he mumbled, looking down at his feet. "Afraid of getting taken into EVA again. Even in the test plug, I sort of…flinch back from it, I guess. I'm too scared to really try and make the connection as strong as possible."

"I see," Ritsuko said, wondering why Shinji was coming to her with this. "So, how do you plan to address this issue?"

The Third Child's right hand began to twitch in that nervous tic of his. "I want to sync with Unit One, and I mean actually by being inside of it. No simulations or anything," he said. "I think I need to prove to myself that it won't happen again."

Ritsuko frowned, her fatigued mind processing Shinji's request far more slowly than it would under normal circumstances. She supposed it couldn't hurt to try it, and if it would do something for Shinji's god awful test scores, it was more than worth it.

Then she remembered that she'd had a small army of technicians practically taking Unit One apart for weeks now, and she struggled to figure out how practical Shinji's request was at the moment.

_Unit One's not close to being combat ready, but with a few adjustments, it should be ready for him to activate it,_ she decided at last.

"Give me a couple of hours to get your EVA ready, Shinji, then you can confront your fears," Ritsuko said.

* * *

"Really, Fuyutski-sensei, what motive could you possibly have for helping Ikari betray this council?" SEELE-01 asked. "Either all will reap the benefits of Third Impact or only one will. Whatever Ikari is planning, there is nothing in it for you."

Fuyutski just sighed and leaned back in the chair that he was bound to. The holographic monoliths that served as the avatars for the members of SEELE couldn't display any kind of emotion, of course, but the old man could still sense the level of frustration among them rising.

Before Keel or any of the other members of SEELE could say anything else, a door to chamber opened, allowing light to stream into the dark room. The holographic monoliths all vanished like specters under the glare, and a man with a ponytail strode inside.

"Vice Commander," Kaji greeted cheerfully as he kneeled behind the man and began to untie him.

"You do realize that this will be your last assignment, don't you?" Fuyutski asked.

"I do," Kaji replied.

"Then do you mind if I ask why you're doing this?" Fuyutski said. "Not that I'm complaining, of course."

"I just want to get as close to the truth as I can," Kaji replied. "To be able to hold it in my hands…that's all I wish."

"You have some foolish ambitions, young man," Fuyutski commented as he at last rose from the chair, rubbing his sore wrists. "On the off chance that you live much longer, I strongly suspect that you will discover, as I have, that ignorance is bliss."

* * *

Shinji sighed deeply as he pressed the button on his plug suit's wrist to make the material conform to his body. He could barely believe what he was going to do, let alone that he'd worked like a demon for weeks so that he'd be able to do it.

"Mother?" he said softly.

**Yes, Shinji-kun?** Yui asked.

"After all of this is over, I'm going to find a way to free you from EVA," he said. "I'm not sure how I'll do it, but I'll find a way."

The resolute determination, the certainty that he would make it happen despite having no idea how…it rather reminded her of Gendo. Her husband had always been sure that he could move the world, so long as he had access to the appropriate lever. And he more often than not proved himself to be correct.

It was one of the things she had always liked about Gendo, at least until he'd begun to use his talents for incredible evil.

It comforted her to see this aspect of Gendo in her son; it made her feel more confident about his chances to overcome the terrible odds she knew he'd have to face in order to save the world and survive to tell the tale. And she knew he was too gentle to ever become as malevolent as his father.

Yet she knew her son wouldn't appreciate her making any comparisons between him and Gendo, no manner how many qualifiers she attached to it.

**I know you will, Shinji-kun,** she said instead.

"Well," he said, "let's go do this, then."

* * *

Kaji wasn't the type of man who tried to fight fate. Some might say that he simply had too much dignity to struggle uselessly against the inevitable, while others would simply chalk it up to him being too laid back to get worked up even over his own impending doom.

Had he been asked, Kaji would have said he didn't know _why_ he was that way, that it was just the way he was. The man had never been much for self-analysis.

But whatever the reason, Kaji went down to an out of the way air circulation station within the Geofront and waited. He was unsurprised when the door to the place opened.

"You're late," he said with a small smile.

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the small room a moment later.

* * *

The moment she was released from her dark little holding cell, Misato had rushed home at speeds that were insane even by her standards, though if asked she couldn't have told anyone exactly why. It wasn't as though she expected Kaji to be waiting in her apartment for her. Section Two had taken her ID card and gun and had locked her up while they searched for Kaji, and even they wouldn't have released her if he was still at large.

Yet this logic didn't cause her to ease up on the gas pedal, nor did it stop her from looking around with a wild expectation when she burst into her apartment. Sometimes, emotions just get the better of people, and Misato Katsuragi was no exception to this rule.

She didn't see Kaji standing in her kitchen when she got home, but she did quickly notice the blinking light on her answering machine. With a shaking hand, she reached out and pressed the button.

"You have—one—new message," the machine said in its overly perky tone before switching to Kaji's recording. "Katsuragi, it's me. I'm sure by the time you're listening to this message, I've caused you a lot of trouble. I'm sorry. Please tell Rit-chan I'm sorry too. And there's one more thing to trouble you with. I've been growing…flowers. I'd appreciate it if you could water them for me. Shinji knows where they are. Katsuragi, the truth is with you. Don't hesitate! Move forward! If I see you again, I'll say the words that I couldn't say eight years ago. Sayonara."

"No!" Misato sobbed. "No! Damn it, you idiot! Why did you have to go and get yourself killed! I told you to stop digging into NERV's secrets! I told you…"

She trailed off, unable to keep speaking as tears poured down her face and she was racked with sobs.

* * *

Meanwhile, Unit One's entry plug was being inserted into the purple behemoth. Shinji took a deep breath as the LCL started gushing in around him, savoring one last lungful of air before he had to breathe in what he now knew actually _was_ blood, just not human blood.

"We will now proceed with the activation test," Ritsuko announced over the radio.

"Right," was the only reply Shinji could muster.

The chatter of various technicians followed, talking about harmonics readouts, graphs displays, and a number of other things that were all just so much techno-jargon so far as he was concerned. NERV could activate an Evangelion very quickly, but given the luxury of time, they generally went through a number of checklists.

Shinji wished they'd hurry up.

**Shinji-kun,** Yui said. **Before I have to go back inside of EVA, I want to tell you again that I love you. I love you, and I want you to know that you don't have to pilot EVA to have value as a human being. Don't let anyone ever tell you differently, especially not your father. Understand?**

"Yes," Shinji whispered, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Absolute borderline cleared," Akagi announced. "Synchronization ratio is rising…40 percent…80 percent…120 percent?" a note of fear crept into her voice as she listed off the last figure.

"What's happening?" Shinji asked, finding that he didn't have to try very hard to sound afraid.

"Eject the plug!" Akagi shouted to her underlings, ignoring him.

"The ejection plug is being refused!" Maya replied.

"Send the termination codes! Cut the circuits!" Akagi ordered.

"It's no good! All the codes are being refused!" Makoto answered.

"The pilot's sync ratio is still rising! Passing the 300 percent mark!" Aoba added.

**It would look strange if you didn't scream right about now,** Yui said placidly, a sharp contrast to the panicking NERV personnel.

Shinji immediately threw his head back and shrieked as loudly as he could, just before he felt himself starting to come undone within the LCL.

**Good-bye, Shinji,** Yui said softly.

* * *

Author's Notes: And so we (finally) move past the events of episode 21. Things should start speeding up now.

I know Shinji got damn lucky at various points in this chapter, but let's face it, after how craptacular the bulk of his life has been, he was due. Karma and all that.

Anyway, thanks as always to all my readers and reviewers. Now for a little fun.

* * *

Omake

Ghost Whispers

**Someone's coming!** Yui hissed. **Hide! Hurry!**

His mother's words jolting him into action, Shinji moved as quickly and quietly as he could to get completely behind EVA.

"Hello, Yui-chan," came an unmistakable voice from in front of the EVA.

**Gendo,** Yui hissed.

"I will alter destiny in order to be with you again, my Yui," Gendo continued. "Unit One will have its S2 organ, one way or another. Three Angels yet remain."

**And the Dead Sea Scrolls say nothing about them surrendering **_**their**_** S2 organs to the shadow of Lilith,** Yui replied.

"It is…truly something I'm doing for you, Yui," he said, with a chuckle that was both dark and weary at once. "In the end, though, it shall be worth it, and it is right. You are the only human who ever truly deserved to live."

"DAMN IT, GENDO!" Yui's voice suddenly exploded out of Shinji's mouth, to his shock. "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR DAMN MIND?!"

Gendo, not realizing that the voice he was hearing was coming from behind EVA rather than EVA itself, staggered backwards a few steps. "Y-Yui?"

"YES, IT'S ME, AND I AM _VERY_ DISAPPOINTED IN THE WAY YOU'VE BEHAVED SINCE I LEFT!" Yui roared.

"But Yui, everything I've done since then has been for you," Gendo protested weakly.

"BULLSHIT!" Yui snapped. "EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE SINCE THEN HAS BEEN FOR _YOU!_"

"B-But…"

"NOW YOU LISTEN GOOD, GENDO! I WILL _NEVER_ WANT TO BE WITH YOU AGAIN, SO YOU CAN ABANDON THIS INSANE SCHEME OF YOURS!" Yui yelled. Then she added, "OH, AND I FAKED IT _EVERY TIME _I WAS WITH YOU!"

Gendo Ikari, the man who terrified countless NERV personnel, who through sheer force of will might be able to manipulate the force of Armageddon…burst into tears and ran crying from the cage.

"Whoa," Shinji said as he emerged from his hiding place. "Go Mom!"


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Twelve: **Sharing or Spiraling Toward Catharsis**

The phone in the apartment rang. Misato ignored it.

Kaji was dead. The love of her life was dead, and she had never even heard him speak those all important words. Whatever the person on the other end of the line wanted couldn't possibly be half as important.

Then she suddenly realized that she hadn't yet disconnected the answering machine. If she didn't pick up the phone, Kaji's final message might well be recorded over by the caller.

She scrambled to pick up the phone before her machine did, fumbling the receiver about quite badly in the process. After a few seconds, she finally managed to bring it to her ear.

"Hello?" she said, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Misato, this is Ritsuko," came from the other end of the line. "There's been an…incident at NERV. Shinji was absorbed by Unit One."

Misato's mouth dropped open. She couldn't believe it; it just seemed too impossible. Could she have lost both Kaji and Shinji _in the same day?_

"But it's okay," Ritsuko continued quickly. "Shinji reformed almost immediately. He's unconscious, but he seems to be fine. Still, we're keeping him at NERV Medical overnight for observation, just to be safe. Thought you should know."

"I see," Misato said, feeling about ready to collapse. "Thank you. Good-bye."

With that, she hung up before Ritsuko could make any further reply and then collapsed into one the kitchen chairs. It was a long while before she found the will to get up and get a beer.

* * *

Shinji groaned slightly as his eyes slowly slid open, and he found himself staring at the now familiar sight of the ceiling in the NERV medical ward.

"I think I've seen this movie before, and it's not a Bond film," Shinji muttered to himself, feeling grimly amused. "Birdy? Are you there?"

**Yes, I'm here, Shinji,** the Altarian replied in an uncharacteristically small voice.

Shinji nodded, relieved. His memories from his first time inside of EVA were foggy and dream-like, but he hadn't remembered a single thing from his second trip. He'd been afraid something might have gone wrong, and that it had all been for nothing.

"Good," he said. "I'm—"

**Why did it take you so long to get me out of there?!** Birdy abruptly exploded. **It was so cold and lonely in there! I was so afraid of being trapped forever! I…I was starting to think that I wasn't trapped inside the EVA but that I was actually dead!**

Shinji winced, not pleased to hear how miserable being within EVA alone was after he'd just returned his mother there.

Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done for it in the immediate future; he had bigger problems to worry about. Besides, he reminded himself, his mother had known exactly what it was she was going back to, and had still done so of her own free will.

"Sorry," he said. "I got you out as quickly as I could, but it was kind of a…long process."

**It didn't take very long the first time,** Birdy grumbled, a slight quaver in her voice.

Shinji winced again. Being alone inside EVA must be _really_ bad, to have so jarred the Federation officer.

"The first time was kind of an exception," he said. "Listen, Birdy, I've found out some things while you were, uh, out. There's a lot I need to explain to you."

Birdy somehow seemed to take a deep breath, composing herself. **I'm listening.**

* * *

Ritsuko hated Gendo's office.

Of course, she knew that she was _supposed_ to hate it. Everyone was supposed to hate it; it had been designed to intimidate all but the man who wove his plans there.

Some of the rank-and-file personnel in NERV who knew, or thought that they knew, that she and Gendo were sleeping together often assumed that they did it right in his office. The idea sent a shudder through Ritsuko; she couldn't think of a place where she'd want to have sex less, and she'd seen all the…choice locations within Terminal Dogma.

Still, coming here and giving reports was often a part of her job, so she dealt with it. She dealt with a lot of things.

"How was the Third Child absorbed into Unit One again?" Gendo asked. "That was not a part of the scenario."

The Commander had his hands folded in front of his face again, and he was wearing his orange glasses, like always. It was nearly impossible to read his facial expression as a result, but Ritsuko knew he was less than pleased.

"It seems to be the result of human error, sir," Ritsuko said. "Apparently, while my people were taking apart Unit One during Technical Division One's investigation of the foreign entity, several of the EVA's restrictor plates were loosened."

"I see," Gendo replied. "Well, then, Doctor, I trust you will see to dismissing the people who made these errors."

Akagi was extremely reluctant to comply with this mandate. She was well aware of how she'd been working her people to the bone lately as she struggled to find the foreign entity within Unit One. Anyone that fatigued would make mistakes, and Shinji's request to perform an activation test had come straight out of left field, forcing them to hastily reassemble EVA enough to accommodate him. Besides, she didn't even know who was to blame.

"Doctor?" Gendo said, after she hesitated for just a bit too long.

"Of course, sir. The guilty parties' employment will be terminated," Ritsuko said, hating herself for folding so easily.

"Very well, that will be all," Gendo said.

Ritsuko bowed slightly, then turned on her heel and left, already trying to figure out which of her personnel would be forced to take the rap for this latest debacle.

_Jiro's not the best tech on my staff, but he has a family to support. Yun is single, but she's pretty damn good at what she does…_

She didn't for a moment stop and ponder the improbability of the "human errors" all coming together in such a way that the restraints on Unit One were loosened _and_ the plug ejection system was rendered inoperable.

Under other circumstances, it would have occurred to her. However, she was overburdened, exhausted, and now saddled with some agonizing decisions and guilt. Besides, it somehow wasn't surprising when crap happened to the Third Child; the kid always seemed to draw big fat zeroes in the karmic lottery. Really, having his worst nightmare occur when he'd finally gotten up the courage to face his fears seemed exactly like the sort of kick to the balls that fate would deal the pilot Unit One, so she let the matter go.

This _was_ Shinji she was talking about, after all.

* * *

"…so, in conclusion, that is why I'm formally requesting a black-ops team of Federation officers be deployed to Earth," Birdy said as formally as she could, standing nearly at attention before the hologram of Megius.

The Inspector was silent for a long moment, digesting Birdy's tale. Megius had been less than pleased with Birdy when she'd first called in, since her forced stay inside of Unit One had caused her to skip a few check-ins. However, the great insect's anger had—as well as Shinji could judge—cooled and then dissipated entirely as Birdy explained matters to him.

"This is a rather drastic action you're asking me to take, Birdy," Megius spoke at last.

"Sir, right now, I wouldn't consider it too drastic a move for the Federation to invade and temporality occupy the Earth, just to save the natives from SEELE and Revi," Birdy replied evenly. "Especially given the possibility that Revi may lay claim to a Ryunka before this is all over."

"I see," Megius said. "Unfortunately, I must again refuse your request. The negotiations between the Federation and the Union have been dragging out endlessly. The border region is even more of a powder keg now than it was the last time you asked for aid. Much as it pains me to deny you, you and Shinji will have to handle the situation on Earth by yourselves."

Birdy nodded. "I understand, sir."

"…I'm sorry, Birdy."

With that, the hologram of Megius faded and then vanished, leaving Shinji and Birdy alone within the Altarian's ship.

**Wonderful,** Shinji sighed.

He'd very much been hoping for intervention from the stars. The course toward the end of the world that his father and SEELE had set seemed nearly impossible to divert, except with aid from the Federation. Now that he knew that was not forthcoming, he felt at a loss.

Birdy shook her head. "The Federation has to be Meguis' first concern," she said quietly, as though trying to convince herself. "It's his job."

**So, we're in this alone,** Shinji said. **Any ideas on what we should do now?**

Birdy thought it over for a moment before answering him. "Right now, SEELE's whole master plan is compromised because we know about it. _But_ they only have to kill—effectively—one person to make the secret safe again," she said. "I think our first order of business should be fixing that. We should tell everyone we can trust about this. We'll gain allies and spread the secret at the same time."

**The list of people we can trust is pretty short,** Shinji replied. **Don't forget, NERV is literally an extension of an enormous conspiracy. There's not a lot of people we can be **_**completely**_** sure aren't part of it, and we can't tell anyone if we're not positive they're okay.**

Birdy crossed her arms. "Even one other person knowing is better than us going it alone," she said. "There must be at least a couple of people we can be sure aren't part of the plot."

**Yeah, there are,** Shinji agreed.

* * *

"Misato?" he said, tapping lightly at her door.

The sign she'd hung up that read "Sorry, but please do not disturb me right now" didn't exactly fill him with optimism. Indeed, it normally would have dissuaded him from trying to get her attention at all, but for this, he had to try.

The door slid open a crack, allowing a single, bloodshot eye to peek out at him from a dark room.

"I'm sorry, Shinji, but I'm busy," she said softly.

"But this is really important, Misato!" Shinji protested.

She shook her head. "Whatever it is, I just…can't deal with it right now," she said. "I'm sorry."

With that, the door slid shut. Shinji sighed and walked off.

**What's with her?** Birdy asked.

"I don't know, though obviously something's wrong," Shinji said, knowing that Misato wouldn't normally brush off his concerns like that. "She's been acting kind of off ever since I got out of EVA the first time. Maybe whatever was affecting her finally came to a head."

**Well, regardless, it looks like we can cross her off the list,** Birdy grumbled. **I guess that just leaves…**

The ringing of Shinji's cell phone cut Birdy off.

"Moshi moshi?" the Third Child said as he answered it, silently praying it wasn't an Angel attack.

"Hello, Shinji," the voice of Ritsuko Akagi answered him. "I need you to come into NERV today."

He bit back the sarcastic comment about how considerate NERV was of his schedule.

"Of course, Dr. Akagi," Shinji said instead. "I'll be right in."

"Good," Akagi replied, then hung up.

**Doesn't anyone say "good-bye" anymore?** Birdy asked sardonically.

Shinji just shook his head. "Let's just go and get this over with as quickly as possible," he said as he put his phone back in his pocket.

**What do you think she wants with you?** Birdy asked.

Shinji shrugged. "I don't know, but I doubt it'll take very long," he said. "Akagi's probably got her hands full searching for ghosts in Unit One that aren't there."

He said this with a somewhat forced nonchalance, for his own benefit as much as Birdy's. However, he found that it felt really good to keep secrets from NERV, instead of them keeping secrets from him, for a change.

**Here's hoping you're right,** Birdy said.

* * *

"Hello, Dr. Akagi," Shinji said about a half an hour later as he walked into the scientist's office.

"Hello, Shinji," Ritsuko replied.

If it was possible, she looked even more weary and bedraggled than she did before.

As Shinji knew that she had to be in on his father's schemes, he didn't feel terribly guilty knowing that his own machinations had set her on an utterly futile search.

"So, what did you call me in here for?" the Third Child asked, feeling impatient.

"I need you to do another test in the Pribnow Box," Akagi said.

Shinji's eyes widened. He knew there was only one reason why he, and only he, would be sent to a test in the Pribnow Box. Akagi was making sure that the mystery soul that had caused so much difficulty for his father's scenario hadn't jumped inside him when he'd been absorbed the second time.

Of course, EVA had never had more than one soul inside of it, save for when he'd been trapped there as well, but Akagi didn't know that.

"Well?" Akagi said, finally seeming to notice the Third Child's reluctance to comply.

"Uh, right away, Dr. Akagi," Shinji said, leaving the office and heading for the locker room to change into his plug suit.

**Shinji? What's all this about?** Birdy asked.

He waited until he was actually inside the locker room to answer. "They're checking to see if there's more than one person inside my body," he answered.

**Uh-oh…**

"Yeah," Shinji said. "I think I know a way we can get out of this, though. Birdy, you have to go to sleep."

**Piece of cake,** Birdy replied. **Two minutes in one of these tests always knocks me right out. You know that.**

Shinji shook his head. "You have to be asleep before we start."

**I can't just go to sleep on command, Shinji,** the Altarian replied nervously. **Especially not when I **_**have**_** to.**

He nodded, knowing what she meant. The stress would keep him wide awake, too.

_Damn it, I can't believe it,_ he thought. Was he really going to get caught now, just because Akagi had decided to double-check him?

He started to calculate his odds of escaping from the base before Akagi realized he was bolting and sounded an alarm.

_But even if we made it, what would we do after that? _He thought, mind whirling with half-baked ideas and worst case scenarios. _Birdy's ship would be a good hideout, but other than that…damn! If only there was something I could do to make Birdy go to sleep!_

Then, he suddenly realized that there was one thing besides sync tests that could always be counted on to send Birdy to dreamland.

He cleared his throat. "Back before the Second Impact, there were still seasons in Japan," he began. "None of this wretched, endless heat. The leaves turned red and yellow in autumn, and snow fell from the sky in winter. It was beautiful, truly a different world."

**What are you doing?** Birdy asked.

"Sensei's Second Impact lecture," Shinji replied. "Turns out I've heard it so many times I can actually recite it word for word."

**Oh no,** Birdy groaned.

"Then the Second Impact came, and the face of the planet, and humanity, was changed forever," Shinji continued. "The days immediately following that cataclysm were truly hell on Earth…"

Birdy was out in under two minutes.

* * *

"So, Dr. Akagi, what was the point of these tests in the dummy body, anyway?" Shinji asked two hours later.

"Just a sort of checkup," Akagi answered, which Shinji supposed was technically true.

"I see," he replied. "So, am I all right?"

"Yes, you're quite fine," Akagi answered absently. "It was really just a routine examination, anyway. We weren't expecting to detect anything wrong."

The scientist was clearly paying more attention to the clipboard she was holding than the Third Child, so Shinji decided to leave. However, Akagi suddenly seemed to remember something and focused on him.

"Shinji," she said slowly, "I was wondering how you're doing…"

He gave her a confused look. In his experience, Dr. Akagi had never had any desire to involve herself with the "human element" of the EVA Units.

"I realize that the activation test must have been rather…traumatic for you," Akagi spoke carefully. "After all, you did that to convince yourself you wouldn't be absorbed again, and you were, well, absorbed again."

Shinji nodded, secretly wondering whether Ritsuko was actually concerned for him or if she was just checking to see if one of the essential components necessary to make Unit One work was damaged.

"Actually, I came out of the whole experience feeling pretty good," he told her.

Akagi frowned. "Really? Do you mind if I ask why?"

"Well, I was afraid that if I was absorbed again, I'd be trapped forever," he lied. "Instead, I came out almost immediately. So I guess I've gotten better at escaping EVA somehow."

Ritsuko raised her eyebrows, surprised by his response. It was rather…out of character for the Third Child to take such an optimistic attitude about such an event. However, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when she had so many other tasks demanding her attention.

"I see," she said. "Well, I suppose that's a good attitude to take. In that case, you're free to go."

Shinji nodded and departed, eager to get back into his normal clothes and be away from NERV headquarters.

**You're getting better,** Birdy commented once they were alone in the halls. **I thought for sure that I'd have to feed you a lie again.**

Shinji shook his head. "With all the crazy situations you've gotten me into, it's a wonder I didn't get better at tricking people sooner," he replied. "Thanks for staying asleep until the test was finished."

Birdy snorted. **I didn't exactly have much of a choice; that lecture is a verbal sleeping pill,** she said. **Oh, by the way, don't use that on me again without a good reason. I swear, I'll get hammered and make you deal with the hangover again if you do.**

Shinji winced. "Got it."

* * *

Once he left NERV, the Third Child hopped a train and headed back to the apartment. Just as he was about to open the door, it slid aside as Misato exited, nearly bowling into him.

"Oh, Misato!" he blurted out.

She looked terrible, he thought. There were dark circles around her eyes, and the eyes themselves looked red and puffy. It was obvious that she'd done the bare minimum that was necessary to look presentable, and he wouldn't have been surprised if she hadn't had a good night's sleep in days.

"I have to go into NERV," she said. "Don't know when I'll be back. Don't wait up for me."

With that, she quickly walked off, disappearing into the building's elevator moments later.

**What **_**is**_** her problem?** Birdy wondered again, her old dislike of Misato evident in her tone this time.

Shinji frowned but decided not to tell Birdy off. They had more important things to do than argue with each other. Besides, he doubted that anything he could say would move Birdy's opinion.

"I told you, I think that something's happened," he said instead. "Something big."

Birdy didn't say anything in reply, and Shinji somehow suspected she would have shrugged if she had been in control of their body at the moment.

Shaking his head slightly, Shinji walked into the apartment and took off his shoes. "Tadaima," he said softly.

Venturing further into the apartment, he soon found Asuka, who was seated at the kitchen table reading a magazine.

"Hello, Third," she said once she noticed him, in a voice that Shinji wasn't sure was cold or just absent.

He frowned slightly. _Is she still mad at me for brushing her off a while ago?_ He wondered, then suddenly had to resist the urge to laugh as he was hit by a wave of dark humor. _Wow, I _really_ must have been out of it if recently if I don't know whether Asuka Langley Soryu's pissed off at me or not._

**Well?** Birdy said impatiently. **Go on.**

Shinji nodded and cleared his throat. "Asuka," he said. "I need to talk to you."

She looked up from her magazine, and the look in her pale blue eyes told him that, yes, Asuka was still rather peeved at him, despite how much time had passed.

"Oh, so _now_ the great, invincible Third Child wants to talk to me?" she said testily. "Well, let me tell you something, baka, I am not at your beck and—"

"Damn it, Asuka, this is important," Shinji snapped. "Shut _up_ for once."

This outburst stunned everyone present, including Shinji himself. Birdy was the first one to recover from the shock.

**Shinji, you've got about two seconds to talk before she starts screaming at you,** the Altarian told him. **Use them.**

"I was recently able to get access to some of NERV's restricted files," he began, "and nothing's the way we thought it was."

Her eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you talking about?" she demanded.

Shinji opened his mouth to explain, then decided that it would be easier just to show her his evidence. "There's something you need to see," he said. "I'll be right back."

He went into his bedroom and quickly retrieved the dossier on Asuka he'd printed out from his father's private files. He then went back to the kitchen and held the bundle of papers out to the Second Child.

"I haven't read this," he said, "but if it's anything like mine—and I have every reason to believe that it is—then it's pretty horrifying."

Asuka took it slowly and began to read the opening paragraph.

_Due to the headstrong nature of the Second Child, it will be far simpler to mold her self-image and desires around Evangelion that it would be to render her obedient and submissive. Fortunately, the Second is a nonessential element to the Scenario—she and her EVA are merely added insurance against the Angels. Therefore, nothing intricate will ever be required of her. She is merely needed as a weapon._

Asuka read on, rapidly skimming through the document, reading about how NERV had slowly and insidiously made her feel that EVA was everything. They downplayed any academic or athletic achieves she made, played up every EVA-related triumph, and used a hundred other methods over the years.

At first, she told herself that this wasn't true, that it couldn't be true. Unlikely as it might have seemed, it _had_ to be some god awful "joke" Shinji was playing on her, because the alternative was too terrible to consider.

Unfortunately, she couldn't make herself believe that for very long as she realized it would simply have been beyond the Third Child's means to compose such an authentic looking fake report. She remembered the events chronicled within the report, many of which had happened in Germany long before she'd ever met Shinji.

Hell, there was even a note by the guy that she remembered was the friggen _psychologist _who'd served as a counselor at NERV Germany, warning that NERV's manipulations would likely cause her to become self-destructive eventually.

Commander Ikari himself had written something in response to this.

_Irrelevant. The Second Child is ultimately expendable. It makes no difference if her psyche collapses near the end._

This was not the only place in the document where she was referred to as expendable, not even close. Also, at several points, it mentioned how "fortunate" it was that she had walked in to find her mother's corpse dangling from the ceiling (this was judged to make her psyche easier to mold) and that her father was largely indifferent to her (and thus rarely if ever interfered with what NERV was doing to her).

_Mein Gott,_ Asuka thought, horrified beyond imagination.

She, who had sworn to always be as independent as possible, she who had decided to always live for herself at the age of four…she had been NERV's puppet—NERV's _doll_—for years and years, dancing to their tune while being controlled by invisible strings. And she had never known, never even _guessed._

Wordlessly, Asuka handed the report back to the Shinji, causing the Third Child to frown in confusion. Then, looking remarkably composed, she walked off with a very measured pace, heading deeper into the apartment.

Shinji blinked dumbly as she disappeared into a hallway, wondering at her reaction. Then he heard the door to the bathroom slid open and shut. This was soon followed by the unmistakable sound of Asuka vomiting violently.

"Uh, am I supposed to go and hold her hair back or something?" Shinji asked after a few seconds, having no idea of whatever etiquette might exist for this type situation.

**I think she wants to be alone right now,** the Federation officer replied.

He just nodded, then got out the cherry Alka-Seltzer Misato kept around, dropping two of the tablets into a glass of water.

After at least a good thirty seconds of nonstop retching, Asuka finally fell silent. A few moments later, Shinji heard the sound of the toilet flushing and Asuka emerged, looking very pale.

"Here," he said, handing her the glass. "Drink this."

Asuka wordlessly accepted the Alka-Seltzer and water and slowly began to drink the stuff.

"If it makes you feel any better," he said while Asuka slowly downed the bubbly tonic, "there's a file just like that on me. I know how you feel."

For a moment, Asuka felt rage spike through her. Shinji, she knew, was the kind of person who was so nervous and uncertain that he usually liked it when people told him what to do, because that way he didn't have to decide for himself and risk choosing the wrong course of action. He couldn't understand what this discovery meant to her, someone who had long ago pledged to _never_ be anyone's puppet, and his claim that he understood her pain and horror infuriated her.

Then the moment passed, and she told herself to see reason. Even if Shinji hadn't taken this discovery as hard as she had, he doubtlessly still felt violated. Besides, the number of allies she had in the world had just shrunk significantly; there was no need to discard one of the few that remained.

At last, Asuka finished her drink and placed the glass down on the kitchen counter, some color finally returning to her face. Shinji didn't say anything, patiently waiting for her to recover.

"I am going to go to NERV," Asuka proclaimed in a soft but vehement voice, speaking as much for her own benefit as Shinji's. "Then I am going to get into Unit Two. And _then_, I am going to tear headquarters apart from the inside. You coming, Shinji?"

Shinji's eyes widened, and Birdy groaned. **I was afraid of this.**

"Asuka, you can't do that!" Shinji insisted.

"Why the hell not?" Asuka demanded.

"If you destroy NERV, then the next Angel that shows up will walk all over humanity!" Shinji exclaimed.

He could tell by the look in her eyes that this argument really wasn't doing it for her. Shinji really couldn't blame her; in his own darkest moment, when he'd been languishing in a solitary confinement cell after the disastrous battle against the Thirteenth Angel, he hadn't really cared too much about humanity, either. However, Asuka still had to be dissuaded from her current course of action.

"Look, I know that you're pissed as hell," Shinji said. "So am I, and I intend to do something about all this, hopefully with your help. But just starting up an…an all out NERV civil war isn't the right way to go about it! I don't know exactly how many people are in on everything, but I'd be willing to bet my life that I could count them on one hand! How many people will you kill if you just hop into Unit Two and go ballistic? Hundreds? A thousand? More?"

With extreme reluctance, Asuka acknowledged the logic of what Shinji was saying. Of course, that didn't mean she had to like it.

"So what?" she demanded. "Are you just planning on letting this go?"

After what she'd read, the idea of _not_ going off and making someone pay very dearly was simply inconceivable to her.

"Of course not," Shinji scoffed. "Like I said, I fully intend to do something. It's just that we have to be smart and think about what exactly we're going to do. Using our EVA's should be our absolute last resort."

"So what do _you_ plan on doing about this?" Asuka asked.

"I'm still trying to figure out what we have to work with," Shinji replied.

"In other words, you don't know," Asuka grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hey, one of the things I _have_ decided is that we shouldn't make our move until after the Angels are all dead, so we don't wind up dooming humanity by accident," Shinji said defensively. "So I don't really need an exact plan just yet."

The idea of waiting that long to have her revenge seemed almost impossible to Asuka, but again, she reluctantly had to admit Shinji had a point. Winning against her newly discovered human enemies wouldn't mean very much if she ensured the demise of herself and everyone else on the planet in the process.

_Besides, they do say that revenge is a dish best served cold,_ she mused, her thoughts taking on an almost feral cast.

"Wait a minute," she said, something abruptly occurring to her. "How did you even get this anyway?" she asked, pointing to the report on her he was holding.

Shinji sighed, realizing he was going to have to plunge into another exposition; it seemed like all he was doing lately was explaining something to someone or another. Pushing aside his annoyance, he quickly began to relate to Asuka how he'd come into the possession of top secret NERV documents.

Unsurprisingly, she was giving him a rather skeptical look by the time he was done. "Third Child," she said, "what the hell have you been smoking?"

It wasn't just that his story was crazy, Asuka mused, it was that his story was _crazy_. Indeed, it was so completely and utterly nuts that she began to hope, despite knowing better, that everything Shinji had shown her and told her were just the products of his deranged mind.

"I know, it sounds insane, but I can prove it," Shinji said, then paused for a moment. "That's your cue, Birdy."

Suddenly, the Third Child's form began to shift, causing Asuka to gasp and reflexively stagger back a step. He grew taller and the shape of his face changed. His body slimmed down slightly, distinctly feminine curves appearing as his school uniform morphed into a blue and white jumpsuit. Finally, his hair grew until it was down to his waist, one side changing pink while the other became a pure white.

It took only seconds, and when it was over, "he" wasn't a he at all anymore.

"Um, hello, Asuka," Birdy greeted, somewhat awkwardly.

"Mein Gott!" Asuka exclaimed.

"Yeah," Birdy agreed. "Hey, if it makes you feel better, you're reacting to this way better than Shinji did. He totally lost it. Though, then again, as he's the one I'm sharing a body with, the whole thing must've had more—"

"I know you," Asuka said abruptly, frowning slightly as she racked her memory.

Birdy winced. "Uh, no, I really don't think that you do."

Asuka ignored her and continued to probe the recesses of her mind for the answer. Her eyes widened when she found it. "You were the one we met at the onsen!" she exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at the Altarian.

"Uh…um…" Birdy stammered, clearly at a loss for a reply.

Finally, she gave up and switched places with Shinji again, leaving him right in the path of Asuka's molten glare.

The Third Child gasped and spread his hands in a what-the-hell sort of gesture, wondering why Birdy had left him in the line of fire when the Federation officer was the one who was (possibly) able survive Asuka's wrath.

"You damn pervert!" Asuka snapped. "You were looking at me and Misato through her eyes, weren't you?!"

"It's not my fault!" Shinji protested. "I told Birdy not to do that, but she was mad at you for teasing me after I'd saved your life."

"Oh, yeah sure," Asuka said, rolling her eyes. "I'll bet you forced her to do that!"

Shinji shook his head.

"I can't force Birdy to do anything! Asuka, there are two people currently inside this body," he said, gesturing to himself. "One of them is an interstellar police officer who intends to bust one of worst criminals in the galaxy by herself. The other one's me. Who do _you_ think is the dominant personality?"

Asuka pointed a finger and opened her mouth, reflexively preparing to retort. Then she actually thought over what he'd said and hesitated, realizing that his logic was sound. In fact, it was actually airtight.

"Okay, you have a point there," she said.

Shinji let out a small sigh of relief.

"Wait a minute," Asuka said, causing him to wince as he wondered what other revelations she was making as she connected the dots. "Birdy's been wearing my clothes, hasn't she? _That's_ why they're all wrinkled!"

"I told her not to do that, too, but she wouldn't listen to me," Shinji said. "She likes your clothing too much. She wouldn't even accept my offer to buy her own with my money."

**Why are you blaming everything on me?** Birdy demanded indignantly.

"I'm only blaming the stuff that's _your_ fault on you," Shinji retorted.

Asuka sighed and shook her head, wondering just what kind of extraterrestrial police officer Shinji was sharing a body with.

Shinji suddenly realized how far the conversation had strayed and rolled his eyes.

"Christ," he grumbled, "we have more important things to talk about than this, Asuka!"

"Agreed," Asuka said, deciding that she couldn't argue that point with him. "I want to know everything, Shinji."

He nodded. "Hang on a second."

The Third Child went back to his room and got the other secret NERV documents he'd acquired, save for the one that was all about him. "Here," he said, handing them to her. "You can start with these."

Asuka took them, sat at the kitchen table and began to read, skipping from section to section. Yet despite her desire to know everything, Asuka only seemed to be able to tolerate small doses of his father's scenario.

"I don't have much of a plan yet," he said, sitting down across from her when she seemed to take a break. "But one thing I am trying to do is tell everyone I feel I can trust absolutely about this. I figure they can help deal with it, and the more people who learn about these secrets, the better."

"There's not a lot of people we can trust," Asuka said, at once realizing the same problem he'd been dealing with. "This thing says that Misato's not in on it."

Shinji shook his head. "Misato's extremely out of it for some reason," he said. "I tried to tell her earlier, but she just didn't want to deal with me."

"Damn," Asuka muttered. "And Kaji's disappeared, so he's out until he resurfaces."

**Uh-oh,** Birdy said as both she and Shinji realized that Kaji's absence and Misato's state were very possibly related.

Shinji immediately decided not to point out the possible connection to Asuka. He had no proof of it, and he knew it would only cause problems. Asuka wouldn't want to even consider the idea, which was probably why she hadn't already figured it out herself.

In a rather horrible way, though, it was kind of convenient. Shinji liked Kaji, but he wasn't sure he was willing to trust him with this, especially since his father's notes said that the man might be working for SEELE.

"Have you told the stooges?" Asuka asked, knocking Shinji from his thoughts.

Shinji shook his head. "No, I don't want to endanger them. Besides, they can't really do anything to help with the situation, anyway."

Asuka nodded. "Then I won't tell Hikari," she said. "What about Rei, though? She's as wrapped up in this already as we are."

Shinji winced, realizing that Asuka must not have read anything concerning Rei yet in his father's records. "Rei…already knows about all this."

Asuka frowned, clearly sensing that something was amiss. "You told her already?"

Shinji shook his head. "No. Asuka, Rei's in on all of this."

"What?" Asuka breathed.

He quickly explained Rei's genesis and the part she played in his father's schemes to Asuka. By the time he was done, the Second Child was looking pale again, and Shinji half-expected her to run to the bathroom to throw up again.

"That _bitch!_" Asuka exclaimed instead, the color violently rushing back to her cheeks. "She knew everything and she was just going to let it all happen?! She was going to help make it happen?!"

**Here we go again,** Birdy groaned, while Shinji nodded.

"I don't believe this! After everything I've done for her, she never even breathed a word of any of this to me!" Asuka shouted, rising from her seat so quickly that she nearly sent her chair clattering to the floor.

"Asuka, where are you going?" he asked, also standing up.

"I am going to make that little bitch pay!" Asuka yelled.

"No!" Shinji exclaimed. "You'll give us away!"

"I don't have to tell her _why_ I'm beating the crap out of her!" Asuka snapped.

"Oh, yeah, like that won't make anyone suspicious," Shinji protested.

"Hey, I'm the self-destructive, expendable pilot," Asuka growled. "They'll believe that I just snapped and randomly decided to kick Rei's teeth in."

"Rei doesn't deserve that!"

"Doesn't deserve it?" Asuka said incredulously. "She is a knowing, willing accomplice to the commander's insane scenario!"

"He's been raising her since she was born," Shinji retorted. "In just a few months, my father had me willing to jump through hoops for him and giving him the benefit of the doubt to an absurd degree. He's been able to mold Rei her entire life. Do the math. This isn't her fault."

"I don't buy it," Asuka replied tersely. "Rei's not an idiot, and she hasn't been kept isolated from everyone but your father for her whole life. She should know better than to think what he's doing is okay. She should have trusted me enough to tell me something about this." She added in a slightly softer tone of voice.

Clearly not willing to be dissuaded this time, Asuka spun on her heel and started heading for the door.

**Don't let her go,** Birdy told Shinji.

The Third Child didn't need to be told twice, or even once for that matter. "Asuka, stop!" he shouted.

She spun around, blue eyes blazing. "Why the hell should I?" she snapped. "You're not the boss of me!"

"You owe me, Asuka," Shinji said firmly.

"What?"

"You said so yourself after I saved you from the Twelfth Angel, which by the way, would've been a lot harder for you to fight off," he said. "Having two people in my head gave me some defense. You wouldn't have fared so well and might not have survived. So you owe me, and I'm collecting. You don't have to be Rei's friend anymore, but don't attack her, and for the love of God, don't confront her about all this."

Asuka seethed silently for a moment, looking like she wished she could just take another acid shower rather than pay off her debt to Shinji in this manner.

"Fine," she finally said. "Though why you're so intent on protecting that lying bitch is beyond me."

"Rei has some of my mother's DNA," he said softly. "We're sort of related."

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Asuka said, incredulous. "You didn't even know her until a few months ago, you only just discovered she's 'sort of' related to you, and you were never very chummy with her to begin with! But now that you know you happen to share a few genes, suddenly she's worth using your 'make Asuka do what you want' card for?"

Shinji shook his head. "It's not that simple," he muttered.

"Do enlighten me, because I sure as hell don't get it," Asuka said.

He sighed. "Look, my father abandoned me when I was four, and my uncle just sort of tolerated me," he said. "Before I came to Tokyo-3, I wished all the time that some relative of mine I'd never known about before would show up and, if not take me from my uncle, then just…be nice to me. Unless I can get my mother out of EVA, Rei is basically my only shot at ever having a caring family; I can't just label her the enemy so easily. Besides, I feel bad for her."

Asuka shook her head. She wanted to tell Shinji he was being a sentimental idiot, but she couldn't. Much as she was loathe to admit it, even to herself, she had had similar fantasies to the one Shinji had described.

Of course, that didn't do anything to quell her burning hatred of Rei, but she didn't think she needed to tell Shinji that.

She sighed. "So what happened?" she asked instead.

Shinji frowned. "Huh?"

"You're acting like someone poured a few gallons of guts into you," Asuka commented. "You sure as hell wouldn't have stood up to me like that a few months ago, anyway. What happened?"

Shinji chuckled weakly. "It's been an eventful few months."

* * *

The next day found Asuka in a less than chipper mood as she walked to school. The entire world seemed a much darker place than it had previously, with shadows lurking behind every corner.

She had left the apartment early, not wanting to talk to Shinji at the moment. Almost as soon as she was on the sidewalk, however, she had started wondering if pulling away for a while to think was what NERV would have _wanted_ her to do.

"Mein Gott, I _hate_ this," she mumbled to herself.

She'd been second-guessing her every thought and action ever since she'd learned about how NERV had manipulated her, and she detested that. It simply wasn't her; she was the type of person who picked a course and stuck with it, priding herself on never uselessly worrying that she'd chosen wrong or wondering what would have happened if she'd made a different decision.

The Second Child arrived at the school a few minutes later, but rather than heading for her classroom, she loitered outside in the yard. She was early, and she knew the only other student who'd be in the classroom at this time was Rei.

_The bitch,_ Asuka fumed all over again at the mere thought of the First Child, still seething with rage and betrayal.

She fervently wished she could give Rei a piece of her mind, or, failing that, a few solid blows to the head. Indeed, she wished that she could act now against all her new discovered enemies; patiently waiting for the most opportune time to strike was another thing that she didn't do. Asuka wasn't the quiet schemer type. If she had a problem with someone, she addressed it at the first possible opportunity, no exceptions.

But Shinji had convinced her of the merit of waiting until right after the threat from the Angels had passed to move against NERV, and she was honor bound to leave Rei alone.

"I hate this," she muttered again.

"Hate what, Asuka?"

The Second Child started, abruptly realizing that Hikari had walked right next to her without her even noticing. "Uh, NERV stuff," Asuka said. "I really can't talk about it."

Technically, it was true, Asuka thought.

"Oh, I see," Hikari said, frowning slightly. "Well, let's go inside."

The two girls made their way into the classroom, and, as Asuka had expected, it was empty save for Rei. The blue haired girl looked up from the book she was reading when they entered, then got up from her desk and approached them with a small smile.

"Ohayo," she greeted in her typically soft voice. "I have been informed that a sync test is scheduled for this afternoon, so it would seem that our plans to 'hang' at the mall today have to be canceled. We should reschedule."

Asuka narrowed her eyes. "No, I don't think so," she said in an utterly glacial tone.

It was perhaps that only thing she'd done all day that she didn't think twice about, either before of after she'd done it.

Rei's eyes widened slightly. "I…I see," she said, clearly surprised.

Hikari also gave Asuka a confused look, but she soon decided that the incident she'd just witnessed probably had something to do with the "NERV stuff" the Second Child had mentioned and that it would likely be futile to ask.

The little group of girls dispersed and headed for their respective seats, the atmosphere now rather awkward. A few minutes later, the other students began to arrive, including Shinji. The Third Child said hello to Asuka, then went and sat down by Rei. The two soon began a quiet conversation.

Observing them from her seat, Asuka could just shake her head. _And he's the person I'm supposed to fight NERV with,_ she thought disgustedly, momentarily choosing to ignore the fact that she might be acting the same way he was if she was in his shoes. _Him and whoever happens to be stuck in his head at any given moment._

She sighed. _I hate this._

* * *

Rei, unsurprisingly, was correct about NERV calling them in for a sync test that afternoon. So, a few hours after school had let out, the three Children found themselves standing in the control room, waiting for Dr. Akagi to share the results of the test with them.

"Rei, as always, your test results have held stable," the faux blonde said. "Shinji, you're back to your previous levels. I have to admit that I'm surprised, and rather impressed, that you were able to take something positive from your latest experience with Unit One and bounce back like this."

"Thank you, Dr. Akagi," Shinji said softly.

Asuka rolled her eyes, though not for the reason everyone who noticed it assumed.

"Asuka," Akagi continued, "your score has risen by three points."

This news would have thrilled the Second Child the day before yesterday, but now it only shocked her. "I'm up?"

Shinji shot her a rather meaningful look, and Asuka immediately regained her composure. "Well, of _course_ I'm up!" Asuka exclaimed. "You didn't think that the Great Asuka Langley Soryu would remain in a slump like that for long, did you?"

**She's a lot better at acting than you are,** Birdy commented to Shinji.

The Third Child just nodded slightly in response.

"Yes, well, keep it up," Akagi said dryly. "You're all dismissed."

The three pilots nodded and then filed out, heading for the locker rooms. Asuka, however, didn't go to the girls' locker room, instead following Shinji into his, much to his surprise.

"Asuka? Uh, you're not supposed to be in here," the Third Child said, confused.

"Who's gonna find out? You have this room all to yourself," Asuka replied. "Besides, it's not like I walked in on you while you were changing. I was right at your heels as you went in."

**She kind of has a point there,** Birdy said.

"Okay," Shinji said slowly. "_Why_ are you in here?"

"Why is my score up?" Asuka asked, clearly bewildered.

After all the crap she had learned the previous day, she would have bet good money that her downward spiral would have only gained momentum. An increase in her sync ratio was the absolute last thing she'd expected.

Shinji could only shrug in response. "I don't know, Asuka," he said. "Maybe it's because your sync ratio isn't as important to you as it was before, so you're not putting so much pressure on yourself. Or it could be because you know more about EVA's true nature now."

_Ah, yes, that_, was all Asuka could think in response.

Despite what the reports had said, and even Shinji's testimony that he'd had his own mother inside his head for more than two weeks, Asuka found it difficult to believe that Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu's soul resided within Unit Two. She just couldn't seem to wrap her mind around the idea.

_Or maybe it was just one thing too many, so you're not _allowing_ yourself to believe it as a self-defense mechanism, hmmm?_ A voice in her head spoke, sounding so unlike her own that, had she not known better, Asuka might have suspected she too was sharing a body with someone.

"Asuka?" Shinji spoke. "Are you all right? You look a little pale."

Before she could make any kind of reply, the now familiar emergency alert klaxons began to blare all through the base. Shinji and Asuka traded a look.

"Angel?" he guessed.

"I hope so," Asuka growled. "I want to get all the damn things out of the way as soon as possible."

* * *

"Status report!" Misato barked as soon as she strode onto the command center.

"We have visual confirmation of the Angel," Aoba announced, putting it on the main screen with a few keystrokes. "This is at maximum zoom."

Misato turned to look at the great screen and regard her new enemy. It look like a pair of feathery wings made of light, set against the starry black backdrop of outer space. If not for her smoldering hatred of the Angels, the Ops Director might have been tempted to think that it was beautiful.

"It's maintaining a constant distance from us," Makoto reported.

"That probably means it's waiting for a chance to come down," Misato speculated aloud, narrowing her eyes as she tried to guess what her foe would do. "Unless it's just going to attack from up there."

"We can't get at it easily," Makoto said.

Misato nodded. "It's out of our weapon's range," she agreed grimly.

"We must deploy the EVA Units and hope that draws the Angel down closer," Gendo spoke, his voice immediately getting the attention of everyone present, as it always did. "In the meantime, they will attempt to shoot the Angel down with positron weaponry. Unit One is to take point."

Misato braced herself for the storm of protests and complaints from the Second Child…which never came. The Ops Director thanked her lucky stars, not bothering to wonder why Asuka had decided to hold her tongue.

"Yes, sir," Misato said, nodding to the bridge techs who quickly launched the catapults to deploy the EVA Units. "But sir, if I may ask, why Unit One?"

"You may not ask, Major," Gendo said flatly.

Misato held back a scowl. "Yes, sir."

* * *

Unit Two arrived on the surface a few seconds after Unit One, no doubt by Commander Ikari's design, Asuka noted with annoyance. Despite what she knew now, she just couldn't help feeling put out by Shinji getting to take point.

Of course, she knew why the Commander had done it. His insane scheme required Unit One to have an S2 organ, and the best place to get those was from the Angel's insides. So the Commander was going to send Shinji first into the line of fire every battle, hoping that Unit One would decide to feast on an Angel's organs.

_If he thinks an EVA can eat something in orbit, he's even more insane than I thought,_ Asuka thought sourly as she grabbed a type twenty positron rifle. Unit One, meanwhile, was setting up a much larger rifle.

Asuka summonsed her targeting computer, intent on removing this hurdle in her path to revenge. She would have to rely on the high tech completely; even if the Angel hadn't been much too far away to target with the naked eye, it was overcast and raining, the dark clouds completely blocking her view of the heavens. The Second Child didn't like to depend on technology in such a manner, but she had no choice in the matter.

"Come on, damn it," she muttered as she tried fruitlessly to get a target lock. "Come down here and fight like an Angel."

As if on cue, a shaft of light suddenly pierced the clouds, shining down on Unit One like a spotlight. Over her radio, Asuka heard Shinji start to scream.

* * *

"What's happening?!" Misato demanded as red alert warnings appeared on every available screen and alarms started blaring.

"Some kind of energy weapon?" Ritsuko asked.

"Negative! No thermal emissions detected!" Aoba reported.

"The psychograph is going crazy!" Maya added. "Mental contamination is imminent!"

"The pilot's vital signs are becoming erratic!" Makoto warned.

"My god," Ritsuko breathed. "A psychic attack from an Angel. Is it possible that they can understand the minds of humans?"  
"Shinji! Retreat!" Misato commanded.

On the main screen, the violet EVA released its hold on the massive rifle it had been aiming and took a step backwards…only to stumbled and fall to the street with enough force to utterly shatter the asphalt that it landed upon. Shinji apparently lacked either the will or the presence of mind to keep going after that, because instead of getting up, Unit One just curled up into a fetal position.

In other circumstances, the image of the fearsome berserker in such a helpless posture would have been funny. At the moment, it was only frightening.

"Asuka, Rei, I don't care whether you've got a lock on the damn thing yet! Shoot the bastard!" Misato barked.

The two other Children obediently raised their rifles and fired off several rounds, sending spheres of blue light flying into the sky and out of the Earth's atmosphere.

"They've both missed the target," Aoba said grimly. "Positrons diminished."

"What's Shinji's status?" Misato snapped.

"The mental contamination has reached the borderline!" Maya said. "Damage is imminent!"

* * *

**No, damn you!** Birdy roared inside of Shinji's mind. **Stay **_**out!**_** Stay the hell out of our minds you monster!**

The Altarian used every trick to resist telepathic assaults that she'd ever been taught, and Shinji, too, fought the attack in his own clumsy, untrained way. However, the Angel's mind was like a battering ram, and their defenses were a barrier that was rapidly starting to buckle from the strain. Already, cracks in their mental shielding were starting to form, and the Angel's invasive presence began to creep in.

_Abandoned!_

"No!" Shinji shouted.

_Unwanted!_

"Get out of my head!"

_Death!_

"Noooo!"

_Useless! Needless! Better off dead!_

"Shinji! Get the hell out of there!" Misato yelled over the radio.

Unfortunately, the Third Child and Birdy were beyond being able to hear her.

* * *

"Gott _damn_ you, monster!" Asuka hissed as she pulled the trigger of her positron rifle again and again, hoping against hope that this time she struck and killed the Angel.

Eventually, her weapon clicked empty. The light pouring down over Unit One's form didn't cease.

The Second Child turned to look at Shinji's EVA, knowing that within it, her only ally in the whole world was being tortured. She could go and pull him out of that horrible light…

But it would mean venturing into it herself, however briefly.

Thanks to Shinji's screams, it was quite obvious what was happening to him, and the mere thought of that happening to her—of having the Angel violate the sanctity of her mind, view her deepest secrets against her will, and bring the darkest parts of her past back into the light…it terrified her. She feared it more than death.

_I…I can't do it,_ she thought, revolted with herself but still unable to move into that light to rescue Shinji, not daring to imagine what he was experiencing at the moment.

* * *

"Ooo, big mecha," Birdy cooed as she looked through the window at the huge purple robot on the other side.

The old lady with the dark hair and the white coat scowled down at the four-year-old. "Ikari-san, this isn't a daycare," she said. "Why did you bring your child here?"

Yui used the radio to reply from her place inside of the purple robot. "Gomen, Dr. Akagi. I wanted Birdy to see the EVA activation test, so she could witness the future we're creating here."

Naoko sniffed. "Hmm, well, it's not like there's going to be a whole lot to see today, but I guess we can allow it just once."

"Thank you," Yui said.

Birdy began to bounce on the balls of her feet as she watched the purple mecha, excited.

"We will now commence the test-type contact experiment," Naoko announced. "All graphs are green, all readings are normal. Commencing synchronization."

Birdy listened while the old lady said a whole bunch of other science-y stuff she didn't understand, hoping that her mother would make the robot move, at least.

_Oh, maybe it'll transform!_ The little girl thought excitedly.

"Absolute borderline cleared!" Naoko suddenly shouted, a distinct note of triumph in her voice. "The test-type has been activated."

"What's the sync ratio?" Gendo asked.

"It's rising steadily. Now at 40 percent…60…80…110?" Naoko's confident voice began to waver as she reached the last number.

"Yui stop!" Gendo barked.

That was when Birdy knew something was really wrong. Her father would never talk to her mother like that otherwise. The excited smile slowly melted off her face.

"It's at 250 percent and still rising!" Naoko shouted. "I can't stop it! The termination codes are being rejected!"

"Yui, you have to eject!" Gendo yelled.

"I can't!" Yui yelled. "It's not working!"

Gendo turned to Naoko. "Cut the circuits!" he roared. "Stop it before it reaches 400 percent!"

"I'm trying!" Naoko snapped, her fingers a blur over her keyboard.

"Don't try! _Do it!_" Gendo roared.

"I can't!" Naoko replied, even as she continued to type with unabated speed. "Her sync ratio's increasing at a faster and faster rate! It's already at 300…350…"

Suddenly, a piercing scream of agony ripped through the control room, and Birdy felt her blood turn to ice water in her veins.

"Mommy?" she whispered.

* * *

"Violeen!" Shinji shouted. "_Violeen!_"

The little boy ran through the halls of the space ship as fast as he legs could carry him, trying not to stumble and fall along the way. This was easier said than done, because he couldn't really see where he was going. The main lights had gone out, leaving only the harsh but not very helpful illumination of the emergency lights.

He turned a corner and then abruptly halted as he found something in the hallway that definitely wasn't supposed to be there. The boy wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it looked almost like an egg made out of living metal.

And whatever was inside it was halfway through the process of hatching.

Suddenly, the thing inside burst out entirely, sending pieces of "eggshell" flying in all directions. Shinji staggered back a step and then fell on his rear as it rose up to its full height, which had to have been over eight feet tall.

He couldn't get a good look at it in the horrible red light, and so he still wasn't sure what the thing was. It was shaped roughly like an Altarian, but the similarity ended there.

The thing rose one huge arm, and Shinji was just able to see wicked claws protruding from its fingers. The boy could only sit where he was, frozen with terror. The monster brought its arm downwards…

…and a smaller, dark shape suddenly burst from seemingly nowhere and intercepted it. Some kind of dark liquid sprayed out of the thing that had taken the blow for him, a good portion of it hitting Shinji. The droplets that landed on his face felt hot and sticky.

Then his savior collapsed to the floor, and Shinji was finally able to get a good look. His eyes widened in horror.

"Violeen!" he shouted, suddenly jolting out of his paralysis and kneeling beside the woman. "No! Please, don't die Violeen!"

_You're like a mother to me. You're all I have in the entire galaxy,_ he thought.

A dark chuckling could be heard in the hallway. Shinji's head snapped up, and for the first time, he noticed a feminine figure standing behind the monster that had hurt Violeen so badly.

"Do you like my new toy?" the woman asked. "It was a gift from Christella Revi."

* * *

"Are we going on a trip?" Birdy asked softly as she followed her father onto the train platform.

Not so long ago, the idea of traveling by train would have thrilled the little girl, but not now. Ever since her mother had died, the shine seemed to have come off the world.

"No," Gendo said tersely. "I'm leaving."

"Huh?" Birdy said, confused. "Then we are going on a trip?"

"_We_ are not going anywhere," Gendo said coldly.

"But then—"

"Hello, Gendo."

Birdy looked up, blinking in surprise at the man who had walked up to them. "Uncle?" she asked.

The man nodded curtly to her before turning back to Gendo. "So, I suppose you'll be going now?"

"Indeed," Gendo replied with a nod.

"Going?" Birdy asked, gradually starting to realize the horrible truth but unwilling to accept it. "But you said—"

"I _said_ that we are not going anywhere," Gendo repeated. "I have very important work I have to do, and you'd only get in the way. You'll be living with your uncle from now on."

The words hit Birdy with the force of a punch to the gut. Her father _couldn't_ abandon her, especially not right after her mother had died. It was impossible! Inconceivable!

And yet it was true.

"Sayonara," Gendo said, heading for the train.

"No!" Birdy cried.

She attempted to chase after him, but her uncle held her back and no amount of struggling could get her free of the man's hold.

"Daddy! Don't leave me!" she shouted, tears pouring from her eyes. "Please! I'll be good, I promise! I'll do whatever you tell me! Whatever you want! Just please don't go!"

Gendo was deaf to his only child's pleas. He never once looked back as he boarded the train, which soon sped out of the station.

* * *

"Sir, the pilot's vital signs are starting to weaken!" Makoto reported. "Physical damage seems imminent!"

"The MAGI are all reporting an inability to analyze this Angel any further!" Maya added.

"There's only a .000001 percent chance that the Angel will cease its attack and descend toward the city!" Aoba said.

"Ikari," Fuyutski whispered to the commander from his position next to him, "do something."

Gendo smirked. It was very slight, but it was there, and it chilled the Vice Commander's blood.

"Rei," Gendo said. "Go to Terminal Dogma and retrieve the Lance!"

Misato immediately whirled around to face the Commander. "What? But sir, you can't do that! Won't Unit Zero coming into contact with that…_thing_ down there risk setting off Third Impact?" she demanded, not caring that she was tipping her hand.

Gendo didn't bother to reply, instead just looking stonily down at the Ops Director. After a few seconds, she turned back around, her face pulled into a dark scowl.

_So, that was a lie, too?_ She thought bitterly as she turned her gaze back to the main screen just in time to see Rei's EVA disappear beneath the street via an access shaft NERV had opened for her.

A few minutes later, Unit Zero returned to the surface, now wielding a red, two pronged spear that was even longer than an Evangelion was tall. She had pulled the weapon from the chest of the Angel that NERV kept within Terminal Dogma, Misato knew.

"The MAGI is calculating the exact trajectory for the attack," Akagi said. "Commencing countdown to assault. Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one."

Rei let the Lance of Longinus fly, and the red weapon soared upwards, piercing the cloud cover that shrouded Tokyo-3 and somehow annihilating it, leaving the previously overcast day sunny. Of course, the spear didn't stop there. Up and up it soared, escaping the pull of the Earth's gravity with the greatest of ease, soon soaring through outer space.

Mere seconds after it had been thrown, it came into contact with the Angel's AT field. The barrier of light held for a few seconds before it collapsed under the force of the Lance's power, and the Fifteenth Angel was left defenseless before it.

The malignant beam of light that was shining down on Unit One instantly winked out of existence.

"The target has been annihilated," Aoba reported.

"Stand down from first stage alert," Misato ordered at once. "Get retrieval teams moving. Now!"

* * *

A little bit over an hour later found the Third Child seated on the sidewalk in the middle of Tokyo-3, his head in hands. Someone from NERV had hung yellow caution tape around where he was sitting, but he barely noticed.

What he'd experienced had been so _real_. Not for a moment had he suspected that he'd been living a memory that wasn't his own. While the Angel had been assaulting his mind, it had been like he'd lived Birdy's life rather than his own. Even now, it was difficult for him to believe that it had all been a deception.

"Didn't see that we were trapped inside Unit One," he muttered softly.

**No, we certainly didn't,** Birdy replied in a small voice.

"So," Shinji said, "that's why you hate Revi so much, isn't it? She was responsible for what happened to Violeen."

Just thinking about what had happened made him want to weep. Someone as kind as Violeen didn't deserve to die. Birdy shouldn't have had to grow up without her.

**Yeah,** Birdy replied softly. **That's why.**

They were silent for a few seconds before Shinji spoke up again. "It's not the same anymore, is it?" he asked. "Me helping you try and catch Revi and you helping me fight NERV, I mean. Before it was just like…an alliance to help us achieve our common goals. Now…"

**Now it's personal,** Birdy supplied.

Shinji nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "Now it's personal."

* * *

Author's Notes: Finally, an Angel battle again. Seems like it's been quite a while since we had one of those. Anyway, sorry about the long wait between chapters, Easter weekend was rather nuts for me.

Tribun, Birdy pretty much knows the basics of Revi's evil plot already, and any nasty surprises Revi may or may not be keeping from Gendo obviously wouldn't be in his records, so really, there wasn't that much new info to be had on that front.

Not much else to say here, so, as always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omake!

March of the Penguins

"The situation is even worse than we feared," Agent P said grimly once Birdy had finished explaining what she and Shinji had recently learned to him.

Birdy nodded solemnly. "I think this is going to require drastic action."

"Agreed," Agent P sighed, sounding like a war veteran who'd seen it all and wasn't eager to see it again, but who knew he'd have to plunge into the breach again, because he just wasn't the type of avian to stand idly by while others risked their lives to fight the good fight.

That bird could convey a lot of emotion in a single word.

"Follow me," he said, sounding like someone who wanted someone else to follow him.

Birdy and Agent P stepped into the elevator in his refrigerator, which took them to one floor below Misato's apartment. The MIB rented out the entire floor, and they had turned it into the Tokyo-3 headquarters.

Unfortunately, due to space limitations and poor planning, Pen-Pen's elevator placed them in the arsenal.

"Ooo, shiny…" Birdy said, her eyes lighting up as she approached the chrome weapons which hung on the walls.

"No touching!" Agent P barked.

The penguin produced a paper fan from seemingly nowhere, then jumped impossibly high to smack Birdy over the head with it. The Federation officer seemed to return to her senses.

"Sorry," she said.

**You really need to stop doing that every time we come down here,** Shinji said.

Agent P led Birdy to a larger room that was empty of everything save a group of small folding chairs. The penguin stabbed a button on the wall intercom with a claw and barked, "Everybody, report to the conference room, now!"

Seconds later, a gaggle of penguins of varying breeds burst in, all of them wearing sunglasses just like Pen-Pen's. They quickly took seats and waited for Agent P to speak.

"Okay, listen up, because I'm only going to say this once," Agent P began. "Intelligence provided by this Federation officer has made me realize that NERV's even more rotten than we suspected. An omega-class threat exists within it, as well as an alien criminal named Revi who will cause a whole lot of hell for this city if she's not stopped. Therefore, I've decided that a direct, all out assault is necessary. We'll need to strike fast and hard, but we _cannot_ destroy NERV's ability to fight the Angels. Any questions?"

Birdy raised her hand.

"Yes, Officer Cephon?" Agent P asked.

"Why are _all_ the MIB guys here penguins?" she asked.

Somehow, despite having a beak, Agent P actually smirked. "You're looking at the Antarctic chapter of the MIB," he explained. "Highest mission success rate of the agency. Any other questions?"

There were none.

"Then let's move out!" Agent P exclaimed. "Whoever brings me the head of Gendo Ikari gets extra salmon rations for a month!"


	14. Chapter 14

* * *

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: **Quiet and Combat**

The morning after the battle against the Fifteenth Angel, Shinji Ikari awoke to a rather familiar sizzling sound coming from nearby. It took him a few seconds to realize that someone must have been cooking in the kitchen, and when he did, his reaction was mixed.

If Misato was making breakfast, it probably meant she was feeling better and might be willing to listen him. On the other hand, if Misato was making breakfast…Misato was making breakfast.

Groaning slightly, the Third Child pulled himself out of bed and made his way to the kitchen, hoping that whatever Misato was making was still salvageable.

What he found when he reached the kitchen was not what he expected.

"Asuka?" he gasped, rubbing his eyes as if that might dispel the illusion.

"Morgen, baka," Asuka greeted, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary with this scene at all.

Warily, he glanced at the contents of the frying pan Asuka was tending. Within it was a couple of eggs, and, amazingly enough, they actually looked quite edible.

"You can cook?" Shinji blurted out, not yet over his amazement.

"What are you, stupid?" Asuka asked. "Of course I can cook. Misato was my guardian for a while in Germany. Do you think I lived off of instant food and her cooking the whole time? Now how many eggs do you want?"

"Uh, one's good," Shinji said. "Excuse me."

He left the kitchen and headed toward the bathroom, where he splashed some cold water on his face. It was no good; he didn't wake up.

**Wow, **Birdy commented, sounding as flabbergasted as he felt. **That was…really…uh…**

"Yeah," Shinji agreed.

**Do you think we've fallen into some kind of bizzaro world or something?** Birdy asked.

"Birdy," Shinji said, "I'm a fourteen-year-old mecha pilot who's charged with protecting the world from giant monsters called Angels, who recently discovered that he also has to save the world from the people who built the giant mecha, and I am currently sharing a body with an alien female, who is pursuing alien criminals. So far as I'm concerned, we're _already_ in a bizarro world."

**…Good point.**

* * *

Meanwhile, at NERV, Dr. Akagi was having a much less pleasant morning.

The foreign entity was back.

She had detected no sign of it during Shinji's last sync test, and she had dared to hope that Shinji's second absorption into EVA had killed it somehow.

However, the readings from the last Angel battle had shattered that hope quite thoroughly. The presence was back, just as if it had never been gone.

"So now what?" she grumbled to herself, feeling about ready to tear out her own hair.

While she supposed partially disassembling Unit One again to continue the in depth examination of the EVA was a possibility, it was something Akagi was loathe to do. For one thing, her (now somewhat smaller) department was seriously overworked and might well mutiny if she declared they needed to take the purple Evangelion apart again. For another, if they did so, there was a good chance they'd have to hastily reassemble the EVA again, which would once more open the door for some new, disastrous error to be made.

She already had enough egg on her face from the last one, thank you very much.

"But what choice do I have?" she wondered, desolately.

The commander wouldn't stand for the continued existence of the alien soul within Unit One; it had already caused significant problems for his plans and could easily cause several more.

A sudden knock at her door interrupted her grim thoughts.

"Enter," Ritsuko said curtly.

The door opened, revealing Maya. "Sempai, the mechanical crews have some questions about the repairs," she said. "Should I tell them you're busy?"

Ah, yes, the post-battle damage. It was quite light compared to several other battles, such as Shinji's first combat sortie, but it was still there. Unit One's armor had sustained some mild damage when it fell onto the street, and the positron rifles needed reloading and servicing.

Maintaining giant antimatter guns took a lot more work than caring for a common pistol, after all.

"No, no, Maya, I'll come," Ritsuko said, glad for the excuse to get away.

She had, as brilliant people sometimes do, overlooked one of the most obvious things she could do.

Putting off dealing with it until later.

_I'll just set aside this problem for now,_ she thought. _Hopefully, a better solution will come to me._

* * *

"Hello, Rei," Shinji greeted the First Child during lunch. "Is there enough room for me at this table?"

He immediately felt like an idiot for his choice of words, because the table Rei was sitting at was unoccupied save for her. Asuka and Hikari had once sat with her, but Asuka had left, and the class rep had apparently followed, being much closer to the Second Child than the First.

**You're really not very good at this, are you?** Birdy commented. Shinji chose to ignore her.

Fortunately, if Rei noted the absurdity of his question, she didn't feel the need to say anything about it.

"Yes," she answered simply.

Shinji nodded sat down at the table across from her. Awkward silence soon followed.

_Right, Rei's not a conversation starter,_ he thought. _I guess it's up to—_

"Ikari," Rei cut him off in mid thought. "May I pose a question to you?"

"You can call me Shinji, and yes, of course," he replied at once.

"Asuka has been acting coldly to me, and I do not know why," Rei observed sadly. "Since you live with her, I was wondering if you had any insights on the cause of this."

"Asuka's…a complicated person," Shinji said, mustering his best clueless expression.

It wasn't technically a lie, he supposed.

"I see," Rei said softly.

The silence returned, much to Shinji's displeasure. There was so much he felt he needed to tell Rei, so little time to do it in, and he had very little idea of _how_ to do it besides. He couldn't just out and ask her very nicely to defy his father (not to mention the very reason for her creation) and _not_ destroy the world. She might tell his father and then the game would really be up.

Yet he had to somehow convince her that the world was worth preserving, even if it meant saying no to the man who'd raised her. It was quite a conundrum, and one he had no real idea on how to resolve. Even Birdy couldn't really help him; this situation was as far outside her experience as it was his.

_What am I supposed to do? Just start rambling about how great the world is?_ He wondered, before shaking his head slightly. _One step at a time._

"So, Rei," he began, somewhat awkwardly. "Since you're not spending time with Asuka, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out with me."

**That might sound like you asking her out on a date,** Birdy warned.

"We've both been piloting for the whole war, but we haven't really gotten to know each other very well," Shinji quickly amended, hoping that sounded more platonic.

Rei's slender eyebrows rose slightly. The pilot of Unit Zero was not, by any means, an expert on human interaction, and she knew it. However, the current situation definitely seemed strange to her.

Asuka, who'd been her best friend, was suddenly regarding her with barely repressed anger and not giving her the time of day. Shinji, who had been rather distant since the Seventh Angel was defeated, was abruptly trying to get close to her.

It seemed to Rei that the odds of these two things being a coincidence were very slim.

However, since Asuka had mysteriously abandoned her, Rei wasn't willing to turn down Shinji's companionship just because she suspected he might be keeping something from her.

"I would…like to spend some time with you, Ikari," Rei said. "I mean, Shinji."

He smiled. "Good. So, where would you like to go?"

Rei paused, considering the question. "Perhaps we could go to the mall and buy clothes together?"

Shinji face-faulted, and even Birdy groaned. **Well, looks like Asuka didn't teach Rei much about interacting with boys…**

* * *

Despite the early "hiccup," Shinji and Rei spent quite a pleasant afternoon together. Once Shinji managed to explain that buying clothing was generally something that girls did with their female friends, not their male friends, they agreed to go to the mall but generally steer clear of the clothing stores.

They mostly ended up walking around, talking, but it was still surprisingly enjoyable. Shinji had to admit that he found it nice to spend time with such a quiet girl, as opposed to the rather aggressive females he was more accustomed to. Also, perhaps it was because the idea that he and Rei might become something more than friends wasn't constantly buzzing at the back of his mind, but knowing that he was technically related to her made him feel more comfortable around the First Child.

By the time the afternoon together ended, Shinji still had no idea how he was going to convince Rei to defy his father without tipping his hand to her, but he still felt that the outing was a success.

His pleasant musings were abruptly cut off as he walked into the apartment and the voice of the Second Child cut through his thoughts. "So, back from your day with Wondergirl?" she asked.

Shinji sighed. "Yeah," he said softly. "She misses you, you know."

Asuka just scowled and crossed her arms. "If she wanted to keep my friendship, she shouldn't have kept it a secret that she was part of a plot to kill everyone in the world!"

Shinji shook his head, wondering if Rei's "betrayal" had truly hurt Asuka _that_ much.

"You should really let go of your anger," he said. "Remember, the fate of the world may well rest in Rei's hands in the future. Don't you think it would be a good idea to do our best to show her that this world is worth saving by being her friend?"

"I can't just let it go, and I can't just be friends with her again like that," Asuka scowled.

Giving up, Shinji decided to change the topic. "So where's Misato?" he asked.

Asuka hooked a thumb in the direction of their guardian's bedroom. "In the enclave," she said. "I don't know what's with her exactly, but whatever happened, it hit her pretty hard."

Shinji just gave a rather noncommittal grunt to this and changed the subject once more. "So, Asuka," he said rather nervously. "Birdy's told me she wants to go out tomorrow, and she was wondering if you'd let her borrow some of your clothes?"

Asuka grimaced, thinking back to all the horrendously wrinkled and often torn outfits she'd found in her wardrobe. "Forget it," she said. "That girl is murder on clothes. Besides, my stuff is too small for her."

"Aw, c'mon, you're not being fair!" Birdy's voice abruptly burst from Shinji's mouth.

Stunned, the Third Child put a hand over his throat. "Since when could you _do_ that?" he demanded.

"I always could," Birdy replied, her voice again coming from Shinji's mouth. "But since you didn't let anybody in on the secret before, I had no reason to."

"Look, Birdy, you can just forget about wearing my clothes anymore," Asuka said crossly.

"But you've got such great fashion sense!" Birdy protested.

"Birdy, if you want to have a conversation with Asuka, switch places with me. Stop possessing my voice box," Shinji grumbled.

The compliment from the Altarian seemed to soften Asuka a bit, but not quite enough to make her willing to throw open the doors to her wardrobe. "Sorry, but no."

"How about this," Shinji said before Birdy could argue. "Asuka, why don't you take Birdy shopping? Pick out some clothes for her. I'll pay for her."

**I'd be game for that,** Birdy spoke up cheerfully.

Asuka considered for a moment. "All right," she eventually agreed. "Anything is better than having my closet raided again."

* * *

Meanwhile, mere feet away, Misato Katsuragi sat in her dim bedroom, looking at the microchip that Kaji had left her before he died.

"The phone that doesn't ring doesn't bother me so much," she said quietly. "Not since you gave me your soul."

She carefully set the chip down. She wouldn't let Kaji's death have been in vain; she was going to finish his work. She would find out all the secrets that NERV and the Committee were hiding from the world, and she would drag them out into the light for all the world to see. That would be her tribute to Kaji.

Unfortunately, doing so was going to be rather difficult.

With a sigh, she downed the remainder of her current can of coffee, then went back to work at her old PC, totally unaware that her charges held information and keys to NERV's secrets that Kaji could have only dreamed about.

* * *

"Geeze, where have you been keeping this reject?" Birdy grumbled as she emerged from Shinji's room the next day, wearing her brown wig and the only outfit the Second Child had deigned to let her borrow.

The outfit was absolutely hideous in the Altarian's opinion, consisting of a puke green sweater and an almost equally ugly, asymmetrical yellow skirt.

"At the back of my closet," Asuka replied. "It was a gift from my stepmother."

Birdy opened her mouth to ask a question but was cut off before Shinji before she could. **Please, don't.**

Mentally shrugging, Birdy turned her attention back to Asuka and said, "Well, let's go, then!"

The Second Child nodded, and soon the pair was on their way to the mall.

"Okay," Asuka spoke in a scholarly tone once they'd arrived, "before we begin, can I safely assume you don't know much about the 'local' fashion?"

"Yeah," Birdy confessed.

**Don't know much about Altarian fashion, either, judging by your own wardrobe,** Shinji quipped, recalling the few times he'd gotten a look at Birdy's personal belongings on her ship. **Do you have any clothing besides your uniforms and that formal robe?**

"Quiet you!" Birdy snapped.

"What?" Asuka frowned, though she looked more bewildered than angry.

Shinji couldn't help but snicker; it was nice to see Birdy stick her foot in her mouth because of him for once, rather than the other way around.

"Not you," Birdy said. "Him."

Of course, since Birdy could just tell Asuka the truth, that robbed much of the potential amusement from the situation.

"Well, tell the baka to shut up for a while," Asuka said in a surprisingly amicable tone. "This is girl stuff we're dealing with here."

Birdy smirked. "Hear that, Shinji?"

**Yeah, I got it,** Shinji said, resigning himself to being purely a spectator for much of the day.

Asuka led Birdy from store to store, selecting a number of outfits for the Altarian. Shinji quickly grew bored, listening to talk of color coordination and which outfit sent which message, and began to doze. Not too much later, he was soundly asleep. Birdy hardly noticed.

The two girls were almost done with their shopping spree when something, or more accurately someone, had to interrupt them.

"Pilot Soryu," Asuka heard a man's deep voice from behind her.

Asuka and Birdy both spun to find themselves face to face with a man in a black suit and sunglasses, who was unmistakably a member of Section Two. The Second Child was rather stunned to see him; unlike the security personnel in Germany, NERV Japan's men in black were often comically easy to lose.

That might have something to do with the fact that Commander Ikari needed Section Two to be staffed with men willing to do his dirty work, while the security guys at the Third Branch were actually hired on the basis of how well they were likely to do at maintaining security. Prior to Shinji telling her NERV's secrets, Asuka had always just assumed that superior German efficiency was the reason for the great discrepancy in the skill levels of the two groups.

She still believed that had at least something to do with it, but that was neither here nor there at the moment.

"What is it?" she demanded of the man in a tone of exaggerated but genuine irritation.

The Second Child wasn't much more fond of Section Two than the Operations Director.

"You are in the company of an unknown individual," the grunt replied coolly. "Protocol requires that all the pilots' friends and companions be cleared by—"

"There's no need for that," Asuka declared in the most imperious tone she could muster, which was very imperious indeed. "Shion here was cleared by the Third Branch a long time ago. We're old friends. She has business in Japan and she came to visit me."

It was difficult to read the agent's expression, thanks to the sunglasses he wore, but Asuka thought he looked skeptical. "Is that so?" he asked.

_Crap,_ Asuka thought. _Looks like this one might be a little smarter than average._

"Oh, yes," Asuka said, then threw her arm around Birdy's waist. "Wir sind alte Freunde aus Deutschland, stimmts?"

The Altarian blinked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Um…uh…" she stammered.

Asuka's gaze grew pointed as she obviously willed Birdy to respond. The Federation officer fervently wished that Shinji was still awake.

"Si," Birdy finally blurted out.

_We are _screwed, Asuka thought, giving Birdy an incredulous look.

The Section Two agent shrugged. "Very well, I suppose it's all right," he said. "Please, enjoy your stay in Japan, Shion-san."

_Okay, this one's actually _dumber_ than average,_ Asuka decided, somehow managing to keep the look of stunned disbelief off her face.

The agent gave both ladies a slight bow and then melted back into the crowd. Or tried to, at any rate. It was rather difficult for the agent to blend in with the mall goers while in full secret service uniform.

Asuka quickly grabbed hold of Birdy's arm and dragged her into the nearest ladies' room. "You've been in Shinji's head for months and you haven't picked up the German word for 'yes' yet?!" she hissed the moment they were safely inside.

"Hey, I can't be expected to remember every language that's spoken on this ball of dirt!" Birdy replied defensively.

"Well, why didn't _Shinji_ tell you what to say?" Asuka demanded.

"Oh, he fell asleep a long time ago," Birdy answered cheerfully.

Asuka sighed and palmed her forehead before she turned her gaze back on Birdy. "And where the _hell_ did you get Spanish from?"

* * *

For the next few days, the lives of the pilots were surprisingly normal, relative to what they were normally like. Shinji continued building his friendship with Rei, and his relations with Asuka were proving themselves far more pleasant than in the past, so long as he didn't bring up the subject of the First Child.

Unfortunately, Misato remained as cloistered as ever, repeatedly brushing off the attempts made by both her wards to speak with her. Shinji and Asuka were both beginning to really worry, but neither one of them really knew just what to do. Misato had never behaved like this before in either of their experiences with her, and it left the both of them quite confused.

So, for days, things went along with some semblance of normalcy, but for EVA pilots, that could never last. And the beginning of the end of the brief quiet came, perhaps appropriately, in the virtual meeting room used by SEELE.

"You lost the Lance of Longinus, Ikari," SEELE-08 stated flatly, barely restrained rage in his voice. "It has recently assumed orbit around the Moon."

Seated at his desk in the center of SEELE's monolith avatars, Gendo was the very picture of calmness under fire. "Their was no choice," he said simply. "The Angel had to be defeated."

SEELE-02 scoffed at this explanation. "Or did you feel the need to try and salvage your own scenario, Ikari?"

It was an unusually direct accusation for this place of insinuations and implications. Gendo immediately rushed to defend himself.

"I am not working toward the completion of any scenario besides that set by this body," he said in a remarkably level voice for a man telling a complete lie.

"Given how vital the Lance is to our scenario, I find that difficult to believe," SEELE-02 said, clearly not done yet.

"The Lance is not irreplaceable," Gendo replied. "However, if the Angel had emerged victorious, the scenario would never come to fruition."

"Your excuses were once better than that, Ikari," SEELE-11 said.

Gendo was about to make a reply when the ringing sound cut him off before he could begin. He pulled open his desk draw and picked up the phone contained within it. "Fuyutski? What is it? I'm in a conference."

A moment of silence passed within the meeting room as Gendo listened to his subordinate speak. "I see," he said, then hung up the phone and addressed the council. "An Angel is approaching. We'll have to finish this later."

"You assume you'll still have a seat here when you return," SEELE-01 said ominously.

Gendo made no reply, and the holographic image of him vanished from the chamber.

* * *

"Launch all EVA Units as soon as possible," Misato ordered as soon as she strode into the command center. "Unit Two will take point in this engagement."

"No," Gendo said. "Unit One will again take point."

"Why?" Misato demanded, whirling around to face the Commander.

Gendo's eyes narrowed behind his orange glasses. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Captain," he said glacially.

"Yes, sir," Misato growled, turning back around to face the main screen and regard the Angel.

The latest threat to humanity's continued existence was perhaps one of the strangest looking ones yet. It looked like a glowing double helix that formed a ring which was spinning over the land. It was currently holding position, and Misato had no idea how it might attack.

She didn't like that. Unpredictability was never good in one's enemies, and Misato's experience was that the more inscrutable an Angel was, the more terrible and dangerous it was.

"Analysis?" she asked.

"The pattern keeps shifting from orange to blue in a fixed cycle," Makoto said. "That's making it very difficult for the MAGI to draw any conclusions about the target."

"I'm sure that shape isn't fixed, however," Akagi put in.

"We need to let it make the first move," Misato decided aloud. "Shinji! I want you to pull back to a distance of ten kilometers!"

"Uh, Misato," Shinji replied over the radio. "I think it might be a little too late for that…"

* * *

Outside, the double helixes of the Sixteenth Angel fused together and part of it split, turning it from a ring into a whip.

Then it struck with impossible speed and serpentine agility, streaking out toward Unit One more quickly than Shinji could have ever hoped to dodge. Shinji barely had time to wince and his curse his father's need to get Unit One an S2 organ before—

Unit One was shoved out of the path of the Angel by Unit Zero, which had materialized at his side from its previous position in seemingly the blink of an eye.

"Rei!" Shinji shouted, as he struggled to regain Unit One's balance. "No!"

But it was too late. The end of the glowing rope that was the Angel plunged into Unit Zero's torso, and veins began to spread all over the EVA's body as the Angel invaded it.

Immediately, Unit Zero brought the huge rifle it was carrying up and fired several shots at the Angel's body from point blank range. The massive shells did nothing to hurt the glowing being, and it just kept worming its way deeper into the blue EVA. Rei screamed.

"No!" Shinji shouted again, commanding Unit One's left shoulder pylon to open with a thought.

With Unit One's left hand, Shinji grasped hold of the wriggling Angel. Veins immediately began to spring up on both his hands and his EVA's hands, but he paid them no heed. Unit One gripped its progressive knife with its right hand and plunged the deadly blade right into the Angel's body, evicting a spray of crimson blood.

Unfortunately, it also caused the First Child to shriek in agony. Shinji immediately withdrew his prog knife from the Angel's body and released his hold on it. The wound he'd inflicted healed almost instantly.

_Okay, now what?_ He thought, paralyzed by indecision. Hurting the Angel clearly hurt Rei, but he couldn't just allow the thing to do what it would to Unit Zero!

Suddenly, he spied movement from the corner of his eye and looked up, instantly spotting Unit Two as it charged toward the battle, its own more utilitarian progressive knife already in hand.

"Asuka, no!" Shinji shouted.

The Second Child refused to heed him, obviously not having the same problems with hurting Rei in the process of killing the Angel that he did. The crimson EVA stabbed into the Angel, bring a fresh spurt of ruby blood and a fresh scream from Rei.

"Stop, damn you!" Shinji yelled, as Asuka began to slice down the Angel's body like she was filleting a fish.

"You have a better idea on how to kill this thing?" Asuka demanded.

**And therein lies the problem,** Birdy said grimly, knowing as well as Shinji that he really _didn't_ have a better idea.

Still, he ignored both of them and shouted, "You're killing her!"

"So is the Angel!" Asuka snapped.

And then it happened. In the heat of their argument, the two EVA pilots had ceased paying enough attention to their enemy, and it took the opportunity to lunge. The Angel twisted, its free end surging forward, and it plunged itself into Unit Two's torso. Asuka screamed as the veins began to spread across her body, and Unit Two dropped its progressive knife. The weapon clattered down to the street below where it cracked the asphalt.

Within Unit Two's entry plug, Asuka nearly doubled over in pain. She could feel every inch of the horrible, alien thing invading both her EVA and her own body. It was more repulsive than anything she could ever have imagined.

"Shinji!" she yelled. "Attack the Angel!"

"I…I can't!" Shinji replied, obviously distressed.

"Damn you!" Asuka screamed. "_Cut it!_"

Shinji made some form of reply, but Asuka never did catch what it was. Because at that moment, something cold and terrifyingly Not Her grabbed hold of her mind and _pulled_, and—

* * *

—suddenly, she found herself suspended above a seemingly endless sea of LCL. It reminded her of SEELE's plans for the world, and she shuddered despite herself.

"Do you wish to become one with me?"

Asuka's gaze snapped forward, and she was suddenly confronted with…herself. The doppelganger stood up to her thighs in the LCL, and he head was bowed, which hid her face behind her fiery locks.

"Why the hell would I want to become one with you?" Asuka demanded, crossing her arms.

For some reason, this whole situation really didn't seem all that strange to her.

"Because if you become one with me, you won't ever have to face it," the other Asuka replied.

"Face what?" Asuka snapped.

"Life after you take your revenge upon NERV," her duplicate said. "It's one of the more bizarre concepts you lilin have invented—vengeance. What good will it really do? It won't change the fact that they've made you into a tool to be used for a terrible purpose."

"It'll keep what they want from ever coming to pass," Asuka pointed out defensively.

Her duplicate chuckled softly. It was a surprisingly chilling sound. "Perhaps," she said. "But what then? After the war's over, you'll just be a tool that no longer has a function, left in a box or cupboard somewhere to gather dust. I imagine that there will be little glory to spread around once NERV is flattened and its secrets exposed. No one will want you."

"Shut up!" Asuka snapped.

"Become one with me, Asuka," the duplicate said. "It is the only way to avoid your fate."

"Never!" Asuka retorted, stubborn as ever.

The other Asuka finally raised her head, allowing the Second Child to finally see her face. It was exactly like her own, except for the eyes.

The eyes were blood red, darker than Ayanami's.

"Angel," Asuka breathed.

The doppelganger ignored her. "You must become one with me," she said, her lips quirking upwards into a sinister smile. "You have no choice."

The veins suddenly began to spread far more aggressively across Asuka's body, reaching all across her form and even rising up her neck toward her face. The Second Child groaned in agony that didn't stem from pain exactly, but from being invaded by something so foreign.

"No," she grunted through clenched teeth.

"Resistance will only make this more unpleasant," the Angel said calmly.

Asuka ignored it, screwing her eyes shut as she desperately tried to figure out what to do. It was obvious that she herself could only delay the inevitable, and there was no one who could help her. Rei was in the same boat as she, and Shinji was too damn gentle to be willing to put the other two pilots through hell to achieve the objective.

She was alone.

_Or are you?_ A voice whispered in her mind.

Asuka nearly rejected the idea out of hand. Surely there was no hope of receiving help from _that_ corner. Even when she'd been all right, she'd wanted precious little to do with Asuka, as she was always busy with work.

The cold sensation of the Angel's presence within in her suddenly spiked, and Asuka was filled with the horrifying certainty that it was nipping at the edges of her very soul.

_Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, if you ever loved me, help me now!_ Asuka thought as loudly as she could.

* * *

"Shinji, I'm sorry, but you have to do this!" Misato shouted to the Third Child over the radio. "It's their only chance. The biofusion of the Angels and the EVA's will become irreversible soon."

Shinji swallowed, looking out at the massive knife still held within Unit One's fist. Indecision gripped him as strongly as his Evangelion gripped the weapon.

**Sometimes, Shinji, we have to do what we must,** Birdy said softly.

Suddenly, the armor plates on Unit Two's back burst off, and a monstrous growth formed on the red giant's back with incredible speed. It warped and shifted, soon becoming larger than the EVA itself and taking on the form of all the Angels NERV had destroyed so far.

**Oh god! Kill it!** Birdy yelled, her stoic, calm voice of a moment ago now nowhere to be found.

_I guess I have no choice,_ Shinji thought with a grimace.

Just as he was about to plunge his progressive knife back into the luminous rope that was the Angel, Unit Two's eyes abruptly flashed and began to blaze with an unholy white light.

**Uh-oh,** Birdy said.

"Berserker," Shinji whispered.

Unit Two's helmet broke, allowing the red Evangelion to open its jaw and display a mouthful of needle-like teeth. It roared thunderously, and, as though frightened by the battle cry, the Angel quickly removed itself from Unit Two, the horrible tower of Angels rapidly shrinking and then disappearing as it did so.

However, the red titan wasn't satisfied with simply have purged itself of its foe. The scarlet EVA grabbed hold of the Angel, its hands noticeably not developing the veins, and yanked hard. Rei let out a final cry before the Angel was pulled from Unit Zero in one clean motion. The blue EVA slumped and then went motionless as soon as it was freed.

The tips of Unit Two's armored gauntlets suddenly burst as great, black claws erupted from the red EVA's hands. Keeping a firm grip on the Angel with one hand, the berserk EVA slashed at the Angel with its new claws, creating a shower of blood.

The Angel squirmed desperately, trying to escape, but Unit Two refused to relinquish its hold. It slashed again and again, causing it to absolutely _pour_ red down upon the streets of Tokyo-3. The Angel's struggles for freedom quickly weakened under this assault.

Then, there was a loud shattering sound, and chunks of a red material went flying everywhere. Shinji smiled in relief as the Angel's glow died and it went limp, as though it were no more than the world's largest piece of twine.

It was over.

Unfortunately, Unit Two didn't seem to realize that. The great beast continued its assault with unwavering frenzy…until it found what it was looking for.

It extracted a great lump of…something from inside the Angel. It was covered in blood, and pulsing in a manner not unlike a human heart.

Shinji's eyes widened; he had a pretty good idea what it was. And while he had no idea what the implications of Unit _Two_ getting an S2 organ would be, he doubted they be positive.

"No!" he shouted, diving at the still out of control EVA just as it opened it jaw and began to bring the S2 organ to its mouth.

He tackled Unit Two, sending it tumbling to the street. The S2 organ flew out of its hand as it fell.

Then Shinji found his EVA atop Asuka's, and he found himself looking right into Unit Two's burning white glare. Its eyes narrowed.

He swallowed.

**That might not have been the best idea,** Birdy said, and he could practically hear her wincing.

EVA Two bucked Unit One off itself, displaying incredible strength even for an Evangelion. Shinji soon found his own EVA on its back, and before he could even try to react, Unit Two pounced, landing atop him and causing all the air to leave his lungs in a great whoosh.

His reflexes must have been greatly elevated because of his fear and all the adrenaline currently pumping through his system, because when Unit Two slashed at him, he managed to grab not one, but both of its wrists. It began to tug violently, trying to get its hands free, but Shinji was prepared for its strength this time and managed to hold fast.

Barely.

**How much longer do you think you'll be able to do this?** Birdy asked.

Shinji just shook his head. _Not very long,_ he thought.

Just as he thought Unit Two would get free and slash his EVA to ribbons for sure, the scarlet death machine stopped, just going lifeless and limp all of a sudden.

"Unit Two's internal batteries have been drained," he heard Maya say over the radio. "The EVA has deactivated."

Shinji sighed in relief. He hadn't even realized that NERV had apparently disconnected Unit Two's umbilical, but he wasn't about to complain.

* * *

The debriefing that followed the battle was rather…awkward for Shinji. Misato chided him for his lengthy hesitation in the battle, which was unpleasant enough, but the worst part was being asked about why he'd felt the need to tackle a berserk Evangelion.

Shinji had told her that he didn't want to see one of the EVA's become "contaminated" by an Angel, especially one as horrible as the Sixteenth. Misato seemed to buy it, probably because her hatred of the Angels made it easy for her to believe someone else would find them that repulsive, too.

The Third Child felt terrible about using his knowledge of Misato's past in such a manner, but he couldn't tell her the truth. Not only was Rei there, also being debriefed, but both Commanders were in attendance.

Speaking of them, Shinji wasn't the least bit sure that his father believed his explanation, but as the man did nothing but stare intently at him the whole time, it was hard to tell anything for sure.

"All right, you two," Misato said at last with a tired sigh. "You're dismissed."

Both Shinji and Rei nodded and then silently left the room.

"Rei?" Shinji said once they were in the halls.

"Yes, Shinji?" the blue haired girl asked.

"Thank you for what you did out there," he said. "That was…very brave of you, Rei."

The First Child's cheeks flushed a delicate pink. "You are…welcome," she replied.

"But please, don't do it again," Shinji said imploringly. "It was also really foolish."

Rei lowered her gaze, looking rather embarrassed. "If I die, I can be replaced," she said.

"Not nearly as well as you might think," Shinji replied cryptically.

She gave him a questioning look in response, and Shinji just shook his head slightly. "Never mind," he said. "I'm going down to the Medical Ward to wait until Asuka wakes up. Would you like to come?"

"I do not think that would be wise," Rei said softly.

Shinji sighed. "No, it probably wouldn't be."

The two parted ways, and Shinji soon found himself in the NERV Medical Ward, as a visitor rather than a patient, for once. He grabbed an extremely old magazine (the only kind available) from the waiting room, and then proceeded to Asuka's room. The Second Child was laying in bed, sleeping silently.

Remembering the first time Unit One had gone berserk, he felt a surge of sympathy for her. He didn't like how willing she'd been to stab the Angel despite the way doing so hurt Rei, but he was forced to admit that he really hadn't had a better plan. He knew he really didn't have a leg to stand on if he wanted to get angry about that.

**You gonna just wait here until she wakes up?** Birdy asked.

"Yup," Shinji replied simply, sitting down in the room's sole chair and opening his ancient magazine.

Birdy grumbled something unintelligible but after that voiced no further complaints.

He sat there for two hours, and once the magazine had been read, found himself fervently wishing he'd brought his SDAT. Even one of Birdy's awful J-pop tapes would be better than doing nothing. Finally, Asuka stirred and opened her eyes.

"Ohayo," Shinji said, even though it was nearly even.

"Ugh, how long was I out?" Asuka grunted.

"Only a few hours," Shinji replied. "Less time than I was out when Unit One went berserk against the Third Angel."

Asuka smiled slightly at that, but her small, pleased expression soon faded. "She saved me," the Second Child whispered.

Shinji nodded. "Yeah, I kind of figured," he replied softly.

Asuka didn't say anything else, just staring off into space like her mind was a million miles away. Shinji somehow got the feeling that he was supposed to say something profound at this point, but he didn't have anything like that to say.

"It was a pretty brave thing Rei did out there," he commented instead.

Asuka's features immediately twisted into a scowl. "It was a pretty stupid thing she did out there."

Shinji shrugged, not feeling like he could really argue that point after he himself had chided Rei for her foolishness. "I think I know why she did it," he said. "She didn't want to be alone again."

"Huh?"

"If the Angel had killed me, she wouldn't have a friend in the world," Shinji said. "You showed Rei what it's like to have a friend. She doesn't want her life to go back to what it was before that."

Asuka sighed in exasperation. "You can just stop trying to convince me to forgive Rei," she said in irritation. "It's not going to happen. Now, let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

"The SEELE council isn't pleased with this turn of events," Fuyutski said. "That Unit Two nearly obtained an S2 organ has thrown them into fits of suspicion."

"Those suspicions can only lead them to faulty conclusions," Gendo said.

Fuyutski grunted. "Why did Unit Two behave that way?"

"We never had any guarantee that the production models would never go berserk," Gendo replied simply. "The duress that both the pilot and the EVA were under must have triggered that reaction. It's the only explanation."

Fuyutski made a skeptical little noise but didn't press further. "So, what are you going to do about the council's demand to see the First and the Second? They say they wish to question them about what they experienced when the Angel made contact with their EVA Units."

"Don't worry, I've given them something else to consider," Gendo said.

Fuyutski arched an eyebrow. "Indeed? I'm surprised you didn't just throw them the Second."

Gendo shook his head. "The Second is a weapon, one of our own design," he said. "However, I have little doubt that the council would not be above trying to point her at us if it suited them. No, I had to arrange for a much more harmless element to face them."

* * *

Ritsuko hated _everything_ as she stood before the SEELE monoliths, as naked as the day she was born.

"We wish to proceed peacefully," SEELE-01 one said, the lecherousness that was detectable even in spite of the voice distortion putting the lie to his words. "We don't wish for you to suffer needless embarrassment."

"I'm not embarrassed," Ritsuko lied defiantly.

"A strong tempered woman," SEELE-03 said with a barely repressed chortle. "It's natural that Ikari wants to keep her by his side."

"However, it is none other than Ikari who presented you to us," SEELE-09 said.

"Indeed," SEELE-01 agreed. "He was quite insistent that we not interrogate the pilots of Unit Zero and Unit Two, despite the fact that they may have communicated with an Angel. He presented you as her replacement, Doctor."

_I'm a replacement?_

The mockery of a meeting continued for several minutes, before Ritsuko's ultimate indignity finally came to a close. Once she was finally released, the scientist dressed and headed to her office, a cauldron of quiet, deadly rage.

There was only one thing she wanted right then: revenge. Revenge against Asuka. Revenge against Rei. And especially revenge against Gendo.

And she didn't care what price she had to pay to get it.

Unfortunately, there were precious few avenues open for her to get what she desired, even when she was heedless of the cost. Asuka and the current Rei were both effectively outside her power, and she knew that Rei's clones were guarded by unyielding, robotic soldiers.

Ikari, of course, had doubtlessly formed contingency plans and taken precautions beyond number. Ritsuko knew only too well that she had little ability to derail his scenario, despite all the access she enjoyed to NERV's secrets. There was little she could do to hurt him, especially if he was expecting an attack from her direction, which he certainly was.

Yes, there was little she could do to hurt him. Little, but not nothing.

Ritsuko booted up her computer and connected to the MAGI, then she opened up the file on Unit One.

With a few keystrokes, the foreign entity contained within it was declared officially dead. Not only that, but she had programmed the MAGI to fail to report its presence in the future.

It wasn't guaranteed to jeopardize Ikari's scenario any more than it already was, and he might not ever even know this had been done, much less that she had done it. It was far from the dramatic, devastating vengeance she craved.

"But it'll have to do for now," Ritsuko said softly.

* * *

Late that night, Shinji awoke to the sound of somebody moving about in the kitchen. The Third Child roused himself reluctantly, half expecting to find that Birdy was the one who'd ventured out of bed for a midnight snack (it wouldn't have been the first time).

But this proved not to be the case. He found himself in his room, and Shinji could sense the stillness in his mind that indicated the Altarian was asleep.

He was tempted to just close his eyes and go back to sleep, but he forced himself out of bed anyway. If it was Misato out there, he might finally get the chance to tell her everything.

Shinji, clad in only a T-shirt and boxers, threw on a pair of track pants and ventured out into the kitchen.

The Ops Director wasn't there. Instead, the Second Child sat at the table, a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream he'd bought for Birdy (the Altarian seemed intent on consuming at least a gallon of every ice cream flavor known to man before she returned home) sitting in front of her and a spoon in her hand.

"Asuka?" he asked.

"Evening, Shinji," she replied, as if this scene happened routinely.

"Uh, are you all right?" he asked.

"I had an Angel in my head today," Asuka replied acerbically. "Also, my whole damn world was recently turned upside down."

"I'm sorr—"

"Shinji," Asuka cut him off, "if you apologize for telling me the truth about NERV, I really will have to smack you."

The Third Child blew a long breath out through his teeth. "What I meant was, I didn't want to bring you the pain I knew would come from telling you that," he said, "but I wanted your help, and I felt you had a right to know."

"I know you wouldn't want to hurt me, despite…everything," Asuka said softly. "You're good like that."

"Thanks," he said. "Hey, uh, should you really be eating all that ice cream?"

Asuka smirked. "I'm not the first girl to do this, Shinji," she said. "And I have a much better reason to do it than just a crappy date."

"Oh," Shinji replied, not knowing what else to say.

A brief silence fell.

"If you want to stop me from eating all this, then grab a spoon," Asuka spoke eventually.

Shinji considered for a moment, then decided that Birdy was just going to have to deal with the loss of her ice cream. He pulled a spoon from a nearby drawer, and the two of them ate ice cream in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry I didn't pull you out of the Fifteenth Angel's attack," Asuka blurted out all of a sudden.

Shinji shook his head. "Please, don't be," he said, wondering how long Asuka had been trying to say that to him. "Having two people in my head helped protect me like it did against the Twelfth Angel. I don't even want to think about what would have happened to a normal person."

Asuka nodded, and they lapsed into silence again.

"Did you know," Asuka again broke the silence, "that I was terrified out of my mind when the Sixth Angel showed up?"

Shinji blinked. "Really? You didn't show it."

"Of course I didn't. I couldn't show weakness to the competition," Asuka said, her tone bitter. She shook her head. "Gott, I've done so many _stupid_ things to defend something I never even really had."

She stared into the tub of ice cream without actually seeing it, contemplating the terrible truth of her own statement. She'd sacrificed so much in her attempts to protect her perceived spot as the top pilot, and she'd always tried to project the image of the invincible pilot girl. The tough girl who didn't take crap from anyone. The girl who was always on top of the world.

She wondered if there was anything left behind all the facades she'd built up over the years, or if she'd become her masks.

Shinji's hand tentatively reached out and touched her own, pulling Asuka from her grim musings.

"I've done some stupid things, too, like trusting my father," he said.

"What comes after NERV is over?" Asuka asked, slowly curling her fingers around his. "Assuming we live that long?"

"I plan on trying to get my mother out of EVA," Shinji answered. "We can try to save yours, too. Though, your mother's soul was absorbed differently. I'm not sure that she's, uh, whole enough to escape." He added, not wanting to get Asuka's hopes up too far.

"She's whole enough," Asuka replied.

Shinji nodded. If anyone would know after the events of the previous day, it would be Asuka, after all.

He didn't think he'd ever had such an intimate conversation with Asuka before. Whether it was because of what had happened during the battle, or because Asuka just really needed a sympathetic ear and he was the only one she could talk to, he didn't know. It was nice.

Shinji was tempted to broach the subject of Rei again while Asuka was in a mood to talk, but he thought the better of it. It would probably just get her angry and make her clam up. Besides, he was tired of having the "Rei debate" with Asuka; it never went anywhere. No matter what he said or how he tried to reason with her, Asuka refused to even consider forgiving Rei.

"What was it like?" Asuka broke Shinji's reflections. "Having your mom inside your head, I mean."

"It was nice," Shinji said. "Really embarrassing at times, but nice."

Asuka smirked. "Yeah, I'll bet it was," she said. "Hey, how many Angels are left, again? I want to know when we can finally make our move."

"According to what my mother remembered about the Dead Sea Scrolls, there are 18 Angels in total, so there's two left," Shinji said.

* * *

Author's Notes: For those you confused by Shinji's bad intel, remember that Yui had only ten year old memories of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Also recall what Misato told Shinji while she was dragging him toward Unit One.

Not much else to say, so as always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Oh, and sorry, but no omakes tonight.

Edit: A special thanks to Tribun for helping with Asuka's German in this chapter.


	15. Chapter 15

* * *

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: **Form of Man**

Shinji didn't know how exactly he'd become the leader of a group that consisted of three people (in two bodies). Certainly, he had never thought of himself as a leader, and he had fully expected Birdy or Asuka to more or less take the reins at some point.

Yet somehow that hadn't happened. Perhaps because he was the one who'd initially gathered all the information that made their little alliance even _possible_, or perhaps because he was the one who'd organized it, both ladies were surprisingly deferential to him when it came to the "master plan."

So it was a pity that Shinji didn't like his plan much.

"It's too simple," he said one afternoon.

He and Asuka were walking around one of the lakes that had been formed when the Tenth Angel had dropped pieces of itself down upon the Earth as target practice, mostly because they were quite sure that NERV had no monitoring devices in the surrounding wilderness.

"Baka, there's no such thing as a plan that's too simple, so long as it accomplishes the objective," Asuka replied. "Simple is good. The more complicated something gets, the more likely it is that something will go wrong with it. We Germans understand this; that's why we're such good engineers."

Asuka's ethnocentrism notwithstanding, Shinji couldn't deny the logic of what she said, but it didn't do anything to quell his displeasure. And in any case, it wasn't the simplicity of their plot that bothered him, really, it was the Plan B.

Plan A was Birdy storming Terminal Dogma and attempting to destroy Hikawa's serum production plant, Revi, and anything and everything necessary for triggering Third Impact that could be found.

Plan B, however, made Plan A look like an exercise in surgical precision. Just before he and Birdy headed for Terminal Dogma, Shinji would use his father's password to disable all the systems that could be used by NERV to stop a rogue EVA. If he and Birdy were stopped by Revi's forces below NERV, Asuka would ensure that what had to be destroyed was destroyed by leveling the whole base with Unit Two.

Just the thought of it made him sick.

"I don't like it, either," Asuka snapped, as if reading his mind, "but you were the one who was talking about the bigger picture a while ago. We can't stop thinking about that just because _you_ don't like it now."

**She's right, you know,** Birdy said.

"I know," Shinji sighed.

"We can make sure we do this while Misato's not at the base," Asuka added thoughtfully. "We'll take her car keys or something so she can't get there."

Shinji nodded, definitely liking that plan. "Okay," he agreed, making a mental note to do something similar for Rei.

"Kind of wish that you never found out about any of this, huh, Shinji?" Asuka asked.

Shinji just shrugged. In a way, he suppose he did wish that. However, he knew there would be virtually no hope for averting Third Impact if his mother and Birdy hadn't switched places for that month.

And he had to admit, it was incredibly liberating to know he was a player in the game, instead of one of his father's pawns. It was only a pity he himself didn't have more resources at his disposal. If he did, he might be able to craft a plan that didn't have a good possibility of requiring the deaths of hundreds of innocents to save the world.

"Let's go home," he said at last. "I don't think we need to talk about—"

"Hello there."

Both Shinji and Asuka jumped. Neither had thought for even a moment that there was another living soul within a kilometer of where they were.

The two whirled about to come face to face with a boy of about their age. He was slender, with gray hair, pale skin and his eyes were a deep red, just like Rei's.

"Excuse me. I didn't mean to startle you," he apologized, giving them a slight bow. "I am Kaworu Nagisa, the Fifth Child. You are the Second and Third." He added. It wasn't a question.

Asuka's eyes narrowed. "No new EVA Units have been sent here, so why did they pick up a new pilot?"

"Ah, I believe I am to be backup," Kaworu replied.

"How did you know we're EVA pilots, too?" Shinji asked.

Kaworu chuckled slightly. "Your reputations precede you," he said. "If you don't mind my saying so, you seem rather…ignorant of your own position."

"Yeah, that's Shinji all right," Asuka snickered.

Shinji gave her a look but didn't say anything.

"I see," Kaworu said. "Well, as I am new here, I was wondering if the two of you might be able to show me around."

Asuka opened her mouth, but Shinji spoke before she could. "I'm sorry, but we're busy right now. Perhaps some other time," he said in a polite but not very friendly tone.

Kaworu nodded. "Some other time," he agreed.

Shinji then walked off and Asuka trailed after him, leaving the Fifth Child standing by the side of the lake, grinning as though all the world was a joke that only he got.

"What was that about?" Asuka hissed once they were out of earshot. "If he's really an EVA pilot, then he's as deep in this as we are. We might be able to tell him everything and get his help."

Shinji shook his head. "You haven't read a lot of the notes my mother had me write about the Dead Sea Scrolls, have you?"

"No," Asuka said.

Those notes had seemed pretty useless to Asuka, except where they gave the number of Angels that would invade the Earth. They were mostly snippets of cryptic prophecies, and even now she could still barely credit the idea that SEELE had launched a doomsday scenario based upon the Dead Sea Scrolls.

"One of the things she remembered was a passage about how an Angel would appear 'wearing the flesh of the lilin,'" Shinji said. "Lilin is Angel speak for humans, unless my memory is seriously off."

Asuka's eyes widened. The Sixteenth _had_ referred to humanity as lilin.

"So you think he's an Angel?" she asked, while Birdy posed almost the exact same question.

Shinji nodded. "Yeah, I do. After all, we know that Rei's part Angel, and he looks a bit like her."

"So we're just letting him go, then? Even knowing he's probably an Angel?" Asuka asked, incredulous.

**I would have been more than willing to find out for sure,** Birdy said with a slight growl.

"Can you get through an AT field, Birdy?" Shinji asked, silencing the Altarian. Then he turned to Asuka. "If he's an Angel, there's not a whole lot we can do until he shows himself."

"But we can't just let an Angel walk around NERV!" Asuka protested.

"Relax," Shinji said. "My father's a bastard, but he's not stupid. And an Angel getting to Terminal Dogma doesn't benefit him any more than it would us."

Asuka shook her head. It wasn't in her nature to bide her time when she had identified an enemy, and she didn't like the idea of waiting. However, Shinji made sense.

He was doing that annoyingly often lately.

"I hope everything works out the way you expect it to," Asuka said.

"So do I," Shinji agreed. "So do I."

* * *

Two giants faced one another, one violet and green, the other crimson. Around them, the empty land outside of Tokyo-3 was strangely silent, as if all the surrounding wildlife was holding its breath, fearing to gain the attention of the two titans.

"Bring it on, Third Child," Asuka said.

Unit One grabbed hold of its progressive knife and charged, but there seemed to be something sluggish in its movements as it advanced. Asuka grabbed her own knife and was _just_ able to bring up her own knife to block Shinji's strike. A shower of sparks erupted from the two blades as they made contact.

Then, Unit Two brought its knee up, striking Unit One in the stomach. Shinji let out an "ooph!" and Unit One staggered back a step. Making good use of this opening, Asuka struck, stabbing Unit One in the stomach. Shinji let out a gasp and then…

The world around them seemed to disintegrate, transforming into the EVA simulator chamber that most of the NERV personnel who worked there referred to as the "Danger Room."

"Good job," Shinji said, stifling a yawn. "What's that make it now? Nine to seven?"

"Yeah, I think so," Asuka replied, stretching. She was too sick of the simulator to take any pleasure in her victory by this point.

"Rei, did you have winner or loser?" Shinji asked.

"It doesn't matter," Misato said, the FROM COMMAND box popping up on the HUDs of the pilots. "You can stop now. Report to the test plug control room when you get out."

"Roger," the three Children replied, wasting no time in ejecting from their EVA Units.

Unsurprisingly, the first thing NERV did once the Fifth Child had arrived in Tokyo-3 was to schedule a sync test for all the pilots. Of course, the fact that there were only three test plugs and now four pilots complicated matters, but NERV really couldn't have cared less.

_Sometimes I forget that NERV's a giant organization with its own bloated bureaucracy, now that I know it's part of a huge conspiracy,_ Shinji thought tiredly. _Then days like these come along and remind me._

The addition of an extra pilot had slowed down matters significantly, as Kaworu had to try each test plug. Logically, the other three Children should have been given their test results and dismissed once they were done, but Akagi apparently wanted to brief them on that as a complete group. So the veteran pilots had been sent to do combat simulations while Kaworu had to take a marathon of three harmonics tests.

Shinji and Asuka were both exhausted and looked it when they walked into the control room. Rei and Kaworu, however, were looking as unruffled as ever in their own, unique ways.

"All of you did quite well today," Ritsuko began. "Rei, Shinji, the two of you remained fairly stable. Asuka, you're up five points. You've not only erased your previous losses, but you've surpassed your old record by one point."

Asuka seemed to visibly swell with pleasure at this news. "Well, of course! What else would you expect from the Great Asuka Langley Soryu?"

**Damn, she's good,** Birdy commented.

Shinji nodded slightly; Asuka's performance was so convincing that he wasn't entirely sure she wasn't actually as pleased as she once might have been at her progress.

Not that he was very surprised about her sync ratio's slight jump. After the events that had transpired during the last battle, he'd have been stunned if Asuka's affinity with her EVA hadn't increased.

"Yes, well, the big achiever today was Pilot Nagisa," Akagi continued. "His scores with all three Units were in the upper nineties."

"_What?!_" Asuka exclaimed, with an incredulousness that wasn't entirely fake.

**Geeze, it's starting to look like you might be right about him, Shinji,** Birdy commented.

"It's true. It seems we have a prodigy on our hands," Akagi said. "Well, that's all, I believe. The four of you are dismissed."

The pilots nodded and departed, heading for their locker rooms. For Shinji, it was strange to have someone else in there with him; he was used to being the only male EVA pilot and thus having the room to himself. Of course, after having had Birdy and then even his mother inside his head, changing in front of Kaworu wasn't really embarrassing.

"Do the tests usually take that long?" Kaworu asked amicably, sounding like he really hadn't minded at all.

"No," Shinji answered simply. "They're usually much shorter."

"Ah, good," Kaworu said cheerfully. "So, what do you normally do afterwards?"

"I usually go home," Shinji replied, deciding that he could wait until he got back to the apartment to have a quick shower.

Kaworu's perpetual smile wavered somewhat. "I see," he said. "Well then, in that case, I won't keep you. Perhaps we will see each other again soon."

"Perhaps," Shinji said. He then finished dressing and departed the locker room with a quick good-bye.

Kaworu stared at the door with a bemused expression for a few seconds after Shinji left. Things certainly weren't proceeding at all as he'd expected them to. Instead of the nearly broken and desperately lonely boy he'd expected to find in the Third Child, there was a polite but not terribly welcoming individual.

_Very strange,_ he thought, wondering what could have so upset the course of destiny on this planet. It would take elements not from Earth to do so, but he'd yet to encounter any yet.

Eventually, Kaworu shrugged and finished changing, idly wondering on the lilin's strange preoccupation with clothing while he did so. Once he was dressed, he stepped out of the locker room and headed down the hall.

What happened next might have been fate twisting events around to restore some semblance of the way things were "supposed" to happen. Or it might have been sheer coincidence.

He ran into the First Child, almost literally, as they both turned a corner and nearly collided.

"Hello," Kaworu greeted her cheerfully.

Rei's eyes, exactly like his own, widened slightly as she took in the newest EVA pilot. There was something…off about him. She realized it at once, but she couldn't seem to pin down just what it was.

Despite her lack of a response, the Fifth Child's good mood was unaffected. Indeed, his smile seemed to widen. "We are the same," he stated.

"What do you mean?" Rei asked, wary.

"Neither of us are accepted by the others," he said.

Rei's eyes softened. "I see."

"Good," Kaworu said. "As we have now established a basis for camaraderie, would it be too much to ask you to show me around the base?"

Rei considered for a moment. "I suppose not."

* * *

"You _what?!_" Shinji sputtered.

"I merely gave him a tour of the base, then accepted an offer to spend some time with him," Rei answered, confused at Shinji's extreme reaction. "I do not see how it is so different from what you and I do."

**Oh, this is bad,** Birdy said.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the rather obvious statement, Shinji turned his attention back to Rei. When he'd sat down to eat lunch with her that day, he hadn't for a moment expected she'd drop such a bombshell.

"Uh, well, I guess it's not," he stammered, "but you just met Nagisa yesterday. Doesn't this seem a little…sudden to you?"

"Should it? How else are people supposed to become friends if not through such interactions?" Rei asked, honestly curious.

"I…don't know," Shinji stammered, fervently hoping that Birdy would feed him a line. When it became obvious that this was not forthcoming, he was forced to continue on his own. "It's just that, well, I'm, uh, worried about you. We don't know much about Nagisa, and not everyone's intentions are good."

"I do not understand," Rei said.

_No, I guess you wouldn't, and I can't tell you how he's probably an Angel,_ Shinji thought.

"Just…don't let your guard down all at once with him, okay?" he said weakly.

Rei arched an eyebrow. "If you wish."

* * *

"Hello, Hyuga," Misato greeted. "Fancy meeting you here."

The bespectacled technician smirked slightly. The two of them were meeting on the walkway of a large suspension bridge on the edge of a city. It was an odd place for a rendezvous, which was exactly why Misato had picked it. That and the noise from all the traffic would make it exceptionally difficult for anyone to eavesdrop.

"I feel like Deepthroat," the tech said.

"Who?" Misato asked, frowning.

"Oh, uh, he was the informant in the Watergate scandal that happened in the States several decades ago," Hyuga replied bashfully.

"Okay…"

The tech cleared his throat. "I've been doing a little bit of snooping around like you asked," he said. "I've found out some things about the Committee, and even a few on the Fifth Child."

"Thank you, Hyuga," Misato said. "I know it's a lot I'm asking from you."

He favored her with a small smile. "For you, Major, I'm more than willing to do it."

She forced a weak smile at him in return. Misato was no idiot, and she knew Hyuga was being so helpful msotly because he was practically in love with her. The man simply wasn't her type, and she felt bad about exploiting his feelings in such a matter.

However, she needed the information he could provide her with, and it wasn't as though she had promised him anything.

"What have you found exactly?" she asked.

"The Committee's been spending money like it's water lately," he answered. "It seems that they're trying to get the Mass Produced EVA Series operational as soon as possible, and they're sparing no expense in making that happen."

Misato frowned, finding this piece of information more than a little disturbing. She couldn't see any reason why the Committee would abruptly decide to pull out all the stops…unless they had big plans for the post-war period.

She had never been naïve enough to assume that EVA would simply be mothballed once the Angels were dead, especially when the Dummy System had been unveiled. But that the Committee wanted so many new ones was an ominous sign indeed.

"And the Fifth Child?" she asked. "What did you discover about him?"

"Everything and nothing," Hyuga replied. "His records have all been erased, just like Rei's. Officially, he has no past."

That was troubling indeed, maybe even as much as the Committee's sudden spending spree.

"That's not all," he continued. "I snuck a look at Maya's files."

Misato's eyes widened. "Oh, you risked too much."

Hyuga shrugged, as if to say that it had already been done. "It was worth it," he said. "I found out that the Fifth Child is able to consciously control his sync ratio with an EVA."

"How can that be?" Misato asked.

"I don't know, Major," Hyuga said. "It should be completely impossible."

Obviously, her suspicions about the Fifth Child had been well justified.

"Hmm, well, thank you for this information, Hyuga-kun," Misato said. "And please don't take such risks again."

He nodded. "If you say so," he replied. "By the way, how are Shinji and Asuka doing lately?"

"Fine," Misato answered. "Just fine. Well, I'll see you at NERV."

Hyuga nodded. "Of course. Good-bye, Major."

The two parted ways, both heading for where they'd left their respective cars. Misato wished Makoto hadn't asked about her charges. It just reminded her about how she'd been brushing them off lately as she dealt with her own issues. Fortunately, they both seemed to be doing well enough anyway, from what she could tell.

_I suppose I'm really not a good guardian after all,_ she thought sadly. _But I _have_ to see this through._

* * *

**This…doesn't feel right,** Shinji said hesitantly.

"Hey, I did not spend a day in Asuka's worst outfit so I could let my new clothes collect dust in your closet," Birdy retorted, not even giving Shinji her full attention as she continued to stroll through the commercial district, window shopping.

**But we're going to have to fight to prevent the end of the world soon,** Shinji protested. **Shouldn't we be planning? Or training? Or…something?**

Birdy sighed. "Shinji, there isn't much we can do right now, so there's no point in getting all wound up about the coming battle."

**Well, what about Rei?** Shinji asked. **Nagisa might be with her right now.**

"You can't prevent him from ever spending one second alone with her," Birdy said. "You have to stop worrying about everything."

A little girl who was staring into the same storefront window as Birdy gave the Altarian a look, clearly wondering why the lady was talking to herself. Birdy didn't offer an explanation, instead just giving the kid a cheery grin. The girl shrugged and walked off.

**Easier said than done,** Shinji sighed. **I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep in days.**

"I know," Birdy replied.

He chuckled weakly. **Yeah, I guess you would,** he said, before his tone grew serious again.** Every time I close my eyes, I just can't help but think about what we're going to have to do, and what Asuka will have to do if we fail. Then I start wondering if there's some brilliant and simple idea I'm missing, that could make us winning a sure thing. Once I get there, not even my SDAT can help me sleep.**

"You need to let all that go for now," Birdy said, "and enjoy what time we're sure we have left. There's nothing left to do."

**I know, but I can't make myself believe that when it's 2 o'clock in the morning and everything's dark,** Shinji replied despondently.

"You know, I'll bet your father spends every spare minute plotting, or trying to plot, too," Birdy said.

**What are you saying?** Shinji asked at once, sounding offended.

Birdy shrugged. "Just that you shouldn't try so hard to beat your father that you start turning into someone as joyless as he is," she said.

It was a chilling idea, and one that would have made Shinji shiver, had he been the one in control of their body at the moment. **You're right,** he said. **Hey, I don't suppose we could go out for a 'night patrol' tonight?**

Birdy smiled. "I thought you didn't like bouncing through the city at night."

**Anything beats staring up at my ceiling and feeling scared and nauseous for hours,** Shinji joked weakly, then added. **I guess I've gotten to like it. It's almost like a roller coaster without the…roller coaster.**

The Altarian chuckled. "Well, I'll tell you what," she said. "We'll go, if I can have those."

She pointed at a pair of shoes in the window of the store she currently stood before. Shinji immediately realized that they were of a designer brand and groaned.

**Fine,** he grumbled, saying good-bye to his NERV salary for that week.

_I wonder if this is anything what it's like to have a girlfriend?_ He thought as Birdy went into the store.

* * *

Rei found her new relationship with the Fifth Child to be…disconcerting at times.

Asuka had always done most of the talking when they had been friends, and the First Child had been quite content to listen, which was something she knew herself to be adept at. When she was with Shinji, they were mostly quiet, just enjoying one another's company.

Nagisa, however, often tried to get her to talk.

"Why do you wish to know what's on my mind?" Rei asked.

Nagisa shrugged. "Because I wish to know more about you."

"You would not wish to know most of what I can tell you," Rei replied. "And most of what you would wish to know, I cannot share."

Kaworu arched an eyebrow, but his smile never wavered. He leaned on the safety rail of the observation post they have come to and looked out over the city. "How did you know of this place?" he asked.

"Shinji showed it to me," Rei replied simply.

"Ah," Kaworu said. "Have you and he been friends long?"

Rei frowned slightly. "I am not sure," she confessed. "It is difficult to say precisely when we became friends."

Kaworu nodded, and his smile widened slightly. "Yes, the relationship between lil…people can often be nebulous and ill-defined," he agreed.

"Indeed," Rei agreed. "Shinji only recently began to spend time with me outside of NERV and school, though many referred to us as friends much earlier. Strangely, he has also begun spending more time with Asuka, who has begun to scorn me for reasons I do not understand."

The First Child closed her mouth, somewhat surprised at herself for saying so much with so little prompting.

Kaworu nodded. "People can be so capricious," he said. "They're truly the most baffling thing on this planet."

Rei nodded silently in agreement.

"They're so superficial," Kaworu remarked. "Something as unimportant as eye or hair color can put them on edge."

"Yes," Rei agreed, a lifetime of stares and suspicious glances that she'd done nothing to earn but look unusual returning to her.

"Many of them are so self-centered," he continued. "They care for nearly nothing that doesn't concern them. Even those who create often see past their own creations, to what they want from what they have made."

"Yes." Rei said, thinking of Gendo while Kaworu thought of Keel.

"But then, they sometimes perform the most incredible feats," Kaworu said, shaking his head and grinning, "and you cannot help but be impressed. And when they do show their softer side, when you really connect with one of them, it is very…pleasant. So much so that one sometimes feels ready to do anything to experience it again."

"Yes," Rei said, thinking of Asuka and how much she missed her first friend.

Kaworu turned to her and smiled. "I don't think I ever met anyone who understood all of that before."

Without commanding herself to do so, Rei found herself smiling back at Kaworu, just a little. "I think you already understand more about me than I could tell you."

* * *

"So, you've been here all along," Asuka whispered, standing on a catwalk right in front of Unit Two.

Even now, she wasn't entirely sure what she should feel about discovering that her mother was truly inside her EVA. She was so used to thinking of her mother through the lens of that terrible period after Kyoko's contact experiment. Now that she knew the greater part of her mother had been in EVA during that terrible time, she wasn't quite sure what her opinion of the woman was any longer.

"Sometimes it seemed like you were at work all the damn time," Asuka said quietly, but pointing an accusatory finger at the red EVA. "I barely ever saw you."

Unit Two, of course, didn't make an answer to these charges, and Asuka sighed gustily. "Almost wish you'd get stuck in _my_ head, so I could talk to you and get a reply," she said. "Were you at work all the time because you wanted to make sure the world would survive for me to grow up in, or did you just not care?"

"I'm sure she cared."

Asuka jumped and whirled around, her heart suddenly hammering. She was relieved to see it was Shinji who had come up behind her.

"How long have you been there?" she asked.

"Long enough," he replied simply. "I'm sure she cared about you, Asuka. Unit Two wouldn't have protected you like it did during the last battle if she didn't."

Asuka nodded. That was true enough. The sheer, primal _rage_ she'd felt from her EVA the moment she'd blacked out had been nothing short of incredible. Unit Two had hated the Angel with every fiber of its being for hurting Asuka and threatening her life. Not only that, but it had been determined to do everything within its power to help and save her, thanks to what she'd managed to communicate to it.

"It was pretty ferocious," she agreed eventually, smiling slightly.

Shinji nodded, but he gave the red EVA a rather disturbed look. The extent to which it had gone berserk troubled him. Unit One had only gotten _that_ out of control once, when he'd been absorbed for the first time. He had no idea why Unit Two should reach that level so easily.

He gave a mental shrug. _Nothing to be done for it,_ he eventually decided.

"You know, I should smack you for eavesdropping on me and butting into my business," Asuka said in a strangely mild tone.

Shinji flinched back slightly.

"I should," Asuka said, "but I won't, because you were right. Thanks, baka."

"Uh, you're welcome," Shinji replied, relieved.

* * *

Kaworu walked down to the EVA cages, smiling in spite of his melancholy. His brief time in lilin form had passed so quickly, like the mere blink of an eye.

He wondered if life seemed so short to all beings who lacked the Fruit of Life. If so, he wondered how they could possibly cope with it. He wished he understood them well enough to know the answer to that.

For the first and last time in his life, the Fifth Child sighed softly. "There was so much more that I wished to learn," he said.

The true nature of humanity continued to elude him. Perhaps if Shinji hadn't been so reluctant to spend more than a few minutes at a time with him, he might have understood them. However, he ended up spending most of his time with Rei.

The First Child was remarkable in her own way, but she was not exactly representative of humanity. In many ways, she was more like him than them.

He shook his head. He had so wanted to learn of humanity, but instead he'd mostly confined himself to what he'd found familiar.

_I wonder if that was because of what small bit of "human nature" I have in me?_ He wondered, amused by the thought. _Even the lilin admit they tend to fear the unknown._

In the end, it was all irrelevant. The call had come from the All-Father, and he had no choice but to answer.

He walked up to Unit Zero and looked into the red lens that covered its single eye. Kaworu had expected to commandeer Unit Two for this, but the soul within it remained awake. He could not control it from the outside.

The soul within Unit Zero was also awake, but it had no love for its pilot, or for humanity in general. It would be amenable to his commands.

"Awaken, shadow of Adam and servant if the lilin!" Kaworu exclaimed. "Throw off your chains and rebel against your masters!"

Unit Zero growled and raised its head, its cyclopean eye blazing. Tabris smiled.

* * *

Rei's cell phone began to ring at almost the exact moment the base's klaxons began to blare. For reasons she couldn't immediately identify and didn't have time to examine, this made her feel rather sick.

"Hai?" she said curtly as she answered her phone.

"Rei," Gendo spoke, "the Fifth has shown himself to be the Seventeenth Angel. His AT field is too powerful to be neutralized by an EVA. You must do your duty."

_No,_ the First Child thought, her eyes sliding closed.

"Yes, Commander," she said. "I'm on my way."

Gendo hung up without another word.

* * *

In the cages, Shinji and Asuka were already suited up and their entry plugs were being inserted into their respective Evangelions. They had wasted no time when they'd been summonsed, having expected the call for a while now. In a way, it was almost a relief.

"Nagisa has shown himself to be an Angel," Misato said grimly to the two over the radio. "Somehow he's commandeered Unit Zero and is heading to Terminal Dogma. You _must _stop him before he gets there."

"Roger!" Shinji and Asuka replied crisply.

_Huh, that went over well,_ Misato thought, surprised. She'd expected at least a degree of incredulousness.

Silently deciding not to question her good fortune, Misato continued. "We've equipped both your EVA Units with extra battery packs, so you should have plenty of juice for this battle," she said. "Still, keep an eye on your countdown timers. We're opening the doors that will lead you to the access shaft Nagisa took. Now move out!"

"Roger!" Shinji and Asuka said again, their EVA's swinging into motion as the restraints were rapidly removed.

"They're late," Tabris mused, looking up the shaft as he descended, Unit Zero right behind him.

No sooner had he said these words than did the massive forms of Units One and Two come into view, descending faster than he was in an effort to catch up. He smiled.

"Give it up, Nagisa," Shinji yelled as his EVA drew ever closer. "It's one EVA against two!"

He smirked. "I'm afraid surrender has never been an option that was open to me."

Units One and Two finally came into range, and the red EVA's hand instantly shot forth toward Tabris. However, before the war machine's gauntleted hand could grip the Seventeenth Angel, Unit Zero moved to intercept. The red and blue Evangelions began to grapple fiercely, struggling for dominance.

Meanwhile, Shinji commanded Unit One's left shoulder pylon to open, revealing his EVA's progressive knife. "Sorry, Rei," he whispered.

The Third Child plunged the weapon into Unit Zero's neck, causing the blue EVA to actually writhe slightly in agony. Its grip must have weakened, because Unit Two was suddenly able to push its arms back and away from its body. The scarlet titan then administered a savage head butt, the sound of which echoed through the long shaft.

When Unit Two moved, allowing Shinji a look at Unit Zero, the Third Child couldn't help but wince, despite knowing that no one was inside the blue EVA. The front of Unit Zero's helmet was severely crumpled and dented, and the red lens had about a million cracks in it.

Suddenly, the damaged lens shattered, hundreds of tiny pieces falling out of the frame and down to the depths of the shaft, revealing a single, bloodshot red eye. Shinji shivered at the sight, then watched as it rolled backwards, leaving nothing but the white of the great eye visible.

Asuka must have noticed this as well, because she released her hold on Unit Zero, and the prototype EVA went plummeting down the shaft, as limp as a marionette whose strings had been cut.

The Second Child wasted no time in exploiting the new opening created by Unit Zero's defeat. She reached for Tabris a second time.

This time, it was a barrier of orange light that kept her from touching her target.

"An AT field?" Asuka gasped.

"Yes, that is what you lilin call this thing," Tabris replied. "It is the light of my soul. The sacred barrier between myself and others that must never be violated!"

"I don't care what it is!" Asuka snapped. "It's going down!"

The Second Child summonsed her progressive knife, and stabbed at Tabris with a fierce, wordless battle cry, but it was to no avail. She might as well have been assaulting a brick wall with a feather for all that she managed to do.

"Shinji!" Asuka snapped. "Help me!"

"Right!" Shinji said, swallowing the bile that had risen up in his throat.

He'd been all right with taking down Unit Zero, but a human? Or at least, someone who looked like a human? He didn't like it one bit.

Nevertheless, he too, pressed the point of his knife against Tabris's shield.

It didn't do any good.

"Misato, we can't…" Shinji began, only to trail off as he realized that he saw only snow in the FROM COMMAND box on his HUD. Tabris was apparently jamming them somehow.

**Looks like we're on our own,** Birdy said grimly.

Shinji nodded, then lowered his knife, even as Asuka began a frenzy of impotent stabs, shouting with frustration.

"Kaworu!" Shinji said. "Don't do this!"

"As I already informed you, I don't have a choice," Tabris replied mildly.

"There's always a choice!" Shinji snapped.

"For your kind, perhaps," Tabris replied, and though he kept smiling, his voice was sad. "Not for mine."

"Ugh!" Shinji growled, frustrated by his inability to even begin to reason with Tabris. "Rei might hate you for this!"

Shinji realized immediately after blurting that out that being hated by people was something _he_ was afraid of, and he felt like an idiot for trying such a tactic. However, he saw Tabris's eternal smile wither and die on his face, and Shinji realized he might have hit pay dirt.

"That would be regrettable," Tabris admitted.

"Then stop this!" Shinji exclaimed.

"As I have said twice, I cannot," Tabris replied. "Does it take all lilin so long to comprehend such a simple concept?"

Shinji didn't get a chance to reply, because at that moment, Units One and Two finally reached the bottom of the shaft, landing in what looked like an entire lake of LCL. Spires of ice shot out from the amber liquid, and a patrol boat floated upon the surface of the LCL, looking almost like a toy boat in a bathtub. Not too far off from where Unit One had landed, Unit Zero lay inert, mostly submerged.

_What the hell is this place?_ Shinji wondered for a moment before he turned his attention back to Tabris.

Shinji and Asuka continued to fruitlessly strike at Tabris's impossibly strong AT field as he floated toward an enormous, armored door. As he approached, the great bolts that held the door shut, each one larger than a telephone pole, slid obediently out of the lock. The door swung open, allowing Tabris entrance and revealing what was kept in the LCL production plant.

**Lilith,** Birdy said softly, looking at the crucified form of the gigantic being. It was nailed to an equally huge red cross that was situated upon a concrete island in the middle of the chamber, which was larger than most football stadiums.

_The key to Third Impact,_ Shinji thought. _The lynchpin of my father's plans. If only I could destroy it now!_

Both the Altarian and the Third Child were so transfixed by the sight that neither of them noticed what was coming up behind him.

Unit Zero plunged its progressive knife into the base of Unit One's spine. Shinji screamed, the sympathetic connection he shared with EVA making his legs feel numb and useless as Unit One began to collapse.

The violet destroyer practically fell into Unit Zero's arms, and Shinji ended up looking right into that horrible eye again. The Third Child grimaced; he'd been so sure that Unit Zero had been taken out of commission that he hadn't even given it a thought after it went falling down the shaft.

"Shinji?!" Asuka shouted.

"Go on!" he yelled. "I've got this!"

**Uh, are you sure—**

The Third Child suddenly lashed out with his progressive knife, slashing Unit Zero's throat. The flexible armor that covered it seemed to give no more resistance than paper would have in its place, and he cut the possessed Evangelion's throat almost all the way to the spine. It collapsed, and Unit One fell with it, landing atop it.

**Uh, never mind,** Birdy said.

Ignoring her, Shinji used Unit One's arms to maneuver his EVA until it was on its back. This didn't help much so far as allowing him to view the battle was concerned, but it _did_ allow him to spot something he wouldn't have seen otherwise.

"Rei?" he whispered.

Immediately, he zoomed in, and sure enough, the First Child stood on one of the chamber's support beams, looking down at the battle with an anguished expression.

* * *

"Must it be this way?" Tabris wondered aloud as he approached the crucified Angel. "Must I destroy that which I have not even come to understand?"

Meanwhile, Asuka continued to assault his AT field, by now shouting German profanities. However, Tabris paid her no mind.

"I am not satisfied that humanity is the existence that deserves to die, but what else can I do?" he said.

Suddenly, his eyes widened as he realized that something was off about the being that was nailed to the cross. "Wait a moment!" he exclaimed. "This isn't Adam! _Lilith?_"

Meanwhile, while Tabris reeled from shock, Rei felt the churning of nausea within her stomach recede just a little bit. Perhaps if he was unable to find his object…

Then Tabris sighed. "Well, I suppose this changes nothing in the grand scheme."

_It does to me,_ Rei thought sadly as she deployed her own AT field, which came into contact with his and rapidly eroded the barrier.

Asuka struck with her progressive knife again, and this time there was no shield of orange light to protect Tabris. A blade the size of bus slammed into a being wearing a human body.

And the Seventeenth Angel was no more.

* * *

"That battle was insane," Asuka said to Shinji some time later.

The two had just finished their debriefing on the battle and were walking through the halls of NERV, heading for the exit.

"Yeah," Shinji agreed with a sigh.

Asuka frowned. "What are you so gloomy about?" she asked.

"Nagisa didn't just decide to drop his AT field, you know," he said. "Rei neutralized his with her own."

"Oh."

He frowned. "Oh? That's all you can say?" he demanded. "Asuka, Rei helped you kill her friend to save you, even though you've been treating her like garbage ever since I told you what she is!"

"Keep your voice down, baka," Asuka said, crossing her arms. "And so what if Rei helped me? She probably did it just because your father's plan requires it. I'll bet she didn't even care about having to do it."

"Bullshit," Shinji replied, his use of profanity startling Asuka. "She was _crying_ when she finally did it."

That, Shinji could see, made an impact.

"What?" Asuka said softly.

He nodded. "I saw her," he said. "After I took out Unit Zero for real, there wasn't much else for me to do but watch her. Having to kill him made her cry, but she did it anyway. And I'm not at all sure she would have done the same thing if someone else had been fighting him."

Asuka was silent, and Shinji pressed the attack. "I'm sick and tired of you giving Rei crap because she's willing to do what she's been told she has to her whole life," he hissed. "Now she's repaid you for treating her so badly lately by saving your life. So are you going to stop behaving like a petulant child now?"

The Second Child's eyes narrowed and she spun on her heel and wordlessly began to storm down the hall. Not quite sure how to interpret this, Shinji followed her at a distance of a few feet. After a few moments of this, Shinji realized that Asuka was taking a longer route than necessary, bypassing a close exit in favor of one further away.

He was only slightly surprised when they found Rei about to leave through the exit Asuka brought them to.

The First Child looked up as they approached. "Hello," she said softly, as impassive as ever.

Shinji felt his heart breaking, knowing what Rei had just had to do and that he couldn't do anything to comfort her. He wasn't even supposed to know she'd been there. "Hi, Rei," he said.

"Hey, Rei," Asuka added.

Rei was visibly surprised by this; Asuka hadn't even acknowledged Rei's presence if she could help it for weeks.

Before the First Child could recover, Asuka breezed passed her and out of headquarters. Shinji rolled his eyes. "That's it?" he muttered to himself, too softly for Rei to hear.

**Hey, it's a start,** Birdy said.

The Third Child shut his eyes and rubbed his temples wearily.

* * *

Author's Notes: I must admit, I don't really like this chapter. I never feel like I know quite how to deal with Kaworu (I say this as though I've done it so many times, while this one brings the grand total to three), and I don't think I hit my stride here. I also have to admit that the bit with Asuka at the end felt forced, but I don't want her still hating Rei's guts at the end of the story, and there are so many baddies that are going to have to be dealt with in the EoE parts that I can't figure out how to squeeze in something to alter Asuka's opinion of Rei there. Hence, what happened in this chapter.

I did kind of like the idea of Kaworu being friends with Rei, if only because they've had pretty similar lives if you think about it. They could probably get one another pretty well. That said, I don't like Rei/Kaworu pairings (I find something about Kaworu to be too unsettling to want to ship him with anyone, truth be told), so I kept it platonic between them. I don't think they'd even necessarily realize that others might see the potential for romance in them spending time together, so I don't believe them not even thinking about anything of that nature is unrealistic.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. As always, thanks to my readers and reviewers. Now to see if I can crank out a decent omake this time.

* * *

Omake

OMG!

Kaworu nodded. "People can be so capricious," he said. "They're truly the most baffling thing on this planet."

Rei nodded silently in agreement.

"They're so superficial," Kaworu remarked. "Something as unimportant as eye or hair color can put them on edge."

"Yes," Rei agreed.

"But then, they sometimes perform the most incredible feats," Kaworu said, shaking his head and grinning, "and you cannot help but be impressed."

"Yes," Rei said.

"And then, sometimes they grow clones of you in big test tubes, and they hook said clones up to an auto-pilot system for giant, bio-mechanical death machines, and you're all like 'I said I could use my clones, but not for ripping apart possessed EVA Units or stabbing some chick in the eye!'"

"Oh my gawd!" Rei exclaimed, suddenly sounding like she'd just stepped out of the movie _Clueless_. "You and me are, like, so totally on the same wavelength! I never met a guy who _got_ me like you do! We should go out! Oh, wait! What's your sign?"

"Uh, Libra," Kaworu answered.

"Oh, I'm a Virgo," Rei said sadly. "It wouldn't work. Major drag."

"Yes," Kaworu agreed. "Would you excuse me for one moment?"

"Like, sure."

He nodded and walked off a ways, then removed his List of Things to Do Before Causing Armageddon from his pocket.

"Let's see," he muttered. "Bungee jump…try pie…tell chronically depressed boy you love him…figure out why a penguin in sunglasses attacked me…ah, here it is, become one with cute girl."

He crossed that off his list, now feeling sure it wasn't going to happen.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: **Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War!**

"Something isn't right," Shinji muttered.

**You're just being paranoid again,** Birdy chided.

Shinji sighed and rubbed his eyes. The Third Child of NERV was on his bed, laying on his stomach and pouring over the notes on the Dead Sea Scrolls he'd transcribed while his mother had been inside his head. He'd been doing this for almost two hours now.

"There's just something that's been nagging me," Shinji said. "I feel like there's something I missing. Something that will seem obvious the minute I figure it out."

**And you think it's in here?** Birdy asked.

"Yeah, I know it," Shinji replied.

Birdy sighed gustily. **Shinji, what you've got before you are scattered pieces of mysterious prophecies. **_**Second hand**_** pieces of prophecy, in fact. Whatever's nagging you is probably just the result of your mother remembering something wrong.**

"Yeah, but—"

**Assuming there even **_**is**_** something real bothering you,** Birdy continued, ignoring him. **You're scared of attacking NERV, because you know there's a very real chance we won't come out of Terminal Dogma alive, and that if we don't, Asuka's going to have kill a whole lot people to keep your whole planet from dying. So you want to find some nugget of information in here to help. I get it. But this **_**isn't**_** helping, so knock it off already.**

Finally relenting, Shinji put the notes away. "I really hope you're right, Birdy."

Whether or not he would have started to suspect that there was no Eighteenth Angel on the way had he kept reading was something he would never really know.

**So, **Birdy said. **How about we listen to some J-pop?**

Shinji groaned.

* * *

Rei Ayanami often found Asuka Langley Soryu inscrutable at the best of times, but this latest development took the proverbial cake. After having treated her with naught but hostility for weeks, Asuka had begun talking to her again. There was no more reason for the Second Child's latest turnaround than there had been for when she'd started treating Rei badly in the first place. Or, if there was, Rei couldn't figure it out.

Nevertheless, as Kaworu was dead and Shinji seemed to be getting more and more preoccupied with something by the day, Rei welcomed the change.

"So, what do you think of those shoes?" Asuka asked, pointing into a storefront window.

Even if they were studiously talking about everything _but_ the reason for Asuka having been frigid to her for so long.

"I do not care for the color," Rei answered.

Asuka just gave a small grunt in response and the two moved on. Rei could detect a sort of muted anger in Asuka's body language, which made her feel that things weren't truly back to normal. However, she didn't dare question Asuka about it.

"So, Rei," Asuka said, her demeanor softening, "did you like Nagisa?"

"Of course," Rei replied quietly, "he was my friend."

"No," Asuka said, "I mean, did you _like_ Nagisa?"

Rei arched an eyebrow in confusion. "That's what you just asked me," she pointed out.

Asuka sighed. "Never mind," she said in an exasperated tone, silently deciding it was just as well that the idea of having _those_ kind of feelings for Kaworu had apparently never even occurred to Rei.

Still, it rather amazed her that Rei could be so clueless. "Haven't I taught you anything about boys?" she asked.

"You informed me that the vast bulk of them are idiots and perverts who are not worth my time," Rei replied, completely deadpan.

Asuka couldn't help but snicker at this, and Rei smiled slightly as she watched the Second Child seem to relax and momentarily let go of whatever remaining grudge she still felt.

For a few seconds, it really felt like the good old days.

* * *

"So that's the truth behind Second Impact," Misato said as she typed at her small laptop, ignoring the way her breath created small puffs of steam in the cold.

The Operations Director had crept down to the MAGI subnode earlier that day, and was currently using Kaji's chip to access information that the spy himself hadn't been able to get to before his untimely demise.

Unknown to Misato, she was in the very same subnode that Shinji himself had ventured to months ago. Fate apparently had a sense of humor, but as Shinji had left no traces of his visit there, Misato wasn't allowed in on the cosmic joke.

"You really hit the mother lode here, Kaji," she said. "It's just a pity that you aren't here to mine it yourself."

She took a deep breath, the tears threatening to come back even now. Once she'd steadied herself, she turned her attention back to the task at hand.

"Don't worry, Kaji, I will discover all of NERV's and the Committee's secrets, and I'll make them pay for their sins," she said softly. "I promise."

* * *

From an outsider's point of view, the final meeting of the Supreme Commander of NERV and the SEELE council really wouldn't have seemed that different. However, this would have been completely wrong, so it was just as well that there were no outside observers.

This time, unlike all the previous meetings, the threats that SEELE routinely delivered had teeth.

"The time is at hand," SEELE-01 spoke. "With the death of the Seventeenth Angel, we can finally proceed with the final phase Human Instrumentality Project. However, with the Lance of Longinus lost to us, we can no longer use Lilith for this purpose. Our only option is to use Lilith's only true offspring, EVA Unit One."

"Unit One possesses no S2 organ," Gendo pointed out. "It is useless for this purpose."

"We possess the technology needed to infuse EVA One with the Fruit of Life," SEELE-03 said. "The project will proceed."

"That was not part of the plan," Gendo said. "Humanity must evolve and shape this new world. _That_ is why we created the EVA series. Not for this."

"We need not cast aside our human forms to use the EVA as our personal ark," SEELE-09 said.

"It's merely part of the process to free us all for rebirth," SEELE-12 added.

"The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth!" SEELE-08 exclaimed.

"Through the sacrament of death, god, humanity, and all living things will be reborn and united as one," SEELE-02 proclaimed.

"Death creates nothing," Gendo said flatly.

"Your death will create an opportunity," SEELE-01 said.

And with that, the monoliths winked out of sight.

"This is it, Ikari," Fuyutski commented grimly. "SEELE will soon try to reclaim what they feel is rightfully theirs. How do you intend to complete your scenario with Unit One still lacking an S2 organ?"

"I will proceed as I would have otherwise and trust in Yui," Gendo answered simply.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the subnode, Misato was just about to access a new file on the Committee when suddenly everything on her screen went red. She sucked in a breath as alert messages began to flash.

"Did they detect me?" she wondered aloud, already reaching for her gun. A closer examination of the screen quickly assuaged her fears, however.

"No, it must be SEELE finally showing up," she said. "Fine with me."

* * *

"There," Akagi said with more than a hint of triumph in her voice as she emerged from MAGI Caspar. "Let's see those bastards try and break through _that_."

"Incredible," Maya breathed as she watched the number 666 appear on the main screen. "I never would have believed such a powerful firewall could even exist. You're amazing, sempai."

"If I was really that amazing, I'd be able to deal with everything _else_ SEELE is going to be throwing at us, too, not just the computer attacks," Ritsuko said sourly.

"You've done well, Dr. Akagi," Fuyutski called down from the top level of the command center. "If we hadn't been able to thwart the attack on the MAGI, this would have been over before it even began."

One of the doors to the command center suddenly slid open and Misato strode in. "Status report," she demanded at once.

"Tokyo-2 has launched special order 8-801," Hyuga responded.

"What does that mean?" Misato asked with a frown.

"NERV's legal protection and jurisdiction have been revoked," Hyuga explained. "Command has been transferred to the Japanese government. They only gave us one warning, then they tried to take over the MAGI, but Dr. Akagi stopped them."

"All external access has been cut off for the next 62 hours," Maya added. "The MAGI is impregnable."

"Pity the same can't be said for the rest of headquarters," Misato said. "Evacuate the city. Only shelters within the Geofront itself are to be used, nothing within the roof. Transform the city to combat configuration. And get the pilots inside headquarters as soon as possible."

The bridge techs looked startled that Misato was apparently gearing up for war, but they complied all the same, trusting the Operations Director. "Roger!"

* * *

Over fifty stories below the bridge crew's feet, another crew was scrambling, commanded by a far crueler taskmaster than Misato Katsuragi.

"Move it!" Hikawa roared. "We're behind schedule as it is!"

It wasn't like him to get so emotional, but with the culmination of his work finally approaching, he couldn't help it.

Below him, a group of aliens who were also on Revi's payroll worked furiously, connecting great hoses to the huge vats of Hikawa's serum that had been brewed down in Terminal Dogma. The other ends of the hoses were fastened to a tanker truck, of which there was a small fleet waiting.

_We're cutting it far too close,_ he thought as he paced about in agitation. _If only there hadn't been so many delays!_

"Nervous, Doctor?"

Hikawa turned to see Gomez behind him. The big man's face was as stony as ever, but Hikawa thought he detected a trace of amusement behind the man's inscrutable expression.

"I'm eager," Hikawa growled. "After so many decades, my moment of triumph is finally at hand, in spite of obstacles like you."

Gomez just grunted in response.

Hikawa held back the urge to wring the brute's neck. "Don't you have something better to do than hover over me at this critical moment?"

"No," Gomez replied in his usual flat, gravelly voice.

* * *

"Ikari has installed a type 666 firewall on the MAGI's external feed circuits," SEELE-05 reported to the rest of the council. "That's very difficult to breach."

"Apparently we will have to forgo acquisition of the Tokyo-3 MAGI," SEELE-11 concluded.

"I had hoped to settle this peacefully," SEELE-01 said. "But he leaves me no choice. Launch the invasion force immediately."

* * *

The forests outside the Geofront seemed calm and empty, save for the sounds of the fauna that had been transported down there for the sake of the place's ecosystem. This, much like Gendo and SEELE's final meeting, was a demonstration in how appearances can be deceiving.

"Show time, ladies," a gruff voice said.

The voice belonged to an officer of the JSSDF, who had just gotten off the phone with one of his superiors. He had gotten the order.

It was time to unchain the dogs of war and set them loose upon NERV.

A small army of men emerged from cover and began to advance on the NERV pyramid. Each and every one was a battle hardened commando who had seen action in the brief but incredibly hellish, post-Second Impact wars. Not a single one would hesitate to do what must be done.

Behind them, squadrons of VTOL heavy attack craft took to the skies, and battalions of heavy tanks and assault vehicles started their engines and began to rumble forward, as implacable as death itself.

Such a sudden advance did not, of course, go unnoticed by NERV. What few defensive batteries existed inside the Geofront opened up, spitting billions of yen worth of ordnance at the invaders in the span of a few seconds, and to the credit of the batteries' designers, a number of tanks and planes were annihilated in short order, all of disappearing in orange fireballs.

However, NERV's immobile defenses had never been expected to stand up to a human enemy, and with good reason. Rockets from JSSDF artillery platforms fired, soaring into the air and then crashing into the batteries, shattering them utterly.

After this, a few more seconds of relative silence reigned, the final calm before the storm. The massive special forces group continued to advance toward NERV headquarters, all but uneffected.

* * *

Shinji and Asuka had, as it turned out, been at the apartment when they had been summonsed to NERV. Believing that the somewhat frantic call meant that the Eighteenth Angel had finally arrived, the two had quickly headed to NERV. They arrived at the base mere minutes before the JSSDF got the order to move out.

Shinji's cell phone began to ring again practically the moment they stepped inside.

"Geeze, someone's antsy," Asuka commented.

Ignoring her, Shinji answered the phone. "Hai?"

"Shinji, this is Misato. Is Asuka with you?" the Ops Director asked at once.

"Yes, she is," he said, feeling trepidation rising up within him.

Either this Angel was a real doozey, or something was seriously wrong. He strongly suspected it was the latter.

"Good," Misato said. "Shinji, listen to me. NERV is under attack by the JSSDF."

"What?" he gasped, suddenly feeling like he had a lead weight inside his stomach.

This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. This was all wrong.

"I don't have time to explain all the details," Misato snapped, and Shinji could clear hear the fear in her voice.

**She's afraid for you and Asuka,** Birdy said quietly.

"Look, I need the both of you to get inside your EVA's. _Now._" Misato said.

"Right, I understand," Shinji replied.

"Good," Misato replied, and then hung up.

"What's going on?" Asuka asked the moment he'd ended the call.

Shinji swallowed. "SEELE is making its move," he said, suddenly finding his mouth terribly dry. "The JSSDF is attacking us. Something must be wrong with those notes I have."

Asuka said something in German. Shinji had never heard those particular words before, but he would have bet his life that they were rather colorful. If he weren't so scared, he probably would have started cursing, too.

"All right," Asuka said once she'd composed herself, "you and Birdy go and stop your crazy father. I'll go and deal with the JSSDF."

"I can't leave you to fight SEELE's forces alone," Shinji objected. "There's no way they'd attack NERV like this without some kind of ace up their sleeve."

"So you're going to come with me and let the Commander do whatever he wants?" Asuka demanded. "Think this through, Shinji."

The Third Child hesitated.

**She's right, you know,** Birdy said.

"All right, fine," Shinji relented, still not liking it one bit, "but as soon as we're done in Terminal Dogma, I'm getting to Unit One and coming to help you."

"Sounds like a plan," Asuka said.

"Okay, then," Shinji said, suddenly feeling awkward and uncertain.

Some kind of good-bye seemed necessary at this point, but hadn't he told Rei, _way_ back in the pre-Birdy days, that it was simply too sad to bid someone good-bye before a mission?

Fortunately, Asuka, take charge kind of girl that she was, did something about the situation. She grabbed hold of Shinji's shirt and pulled him forward, then pressed her lips and against his own. The Third Child stood there stupidly for the long few seconds this went on, until Asuka finally retreated back a step from him.

"Wha…wha?" Shinji stammered out, feeling woozy and lightheaded.

"I didn't want to run the risk of getting killed without having had my first kiss," Asuka said defensively, but her flushed cheeks put the lie to her words.

The Second Child then began to sprint down the hall that would take her toward the EVA cages.

"Don't you dare die!" she shouted at him just before she rounded a corner and disappeared. Shinji stared stupidly after her.

A staccato snapping sound suddenly pulled him from his daze, and he looked down to see that he was snapping his fingers—or, more accurately, Birdy was snapping his fingers for him.

**Move it, Casanova,** the Federation officer said.

The situation he was in suddenly came crashing back down on him, and Shinji began to run in a different direction than the one Asuka had taken off in. He had to get to Terminal Dogma!

**Want to switch with me?** Birdy asked.

"No, not yet," Shinji replied. "Not until we have to. As soon as Revi realizes that you're here, we'll be up to our ears in Arcezoids. Hopefully I'll draw less attention."

**All right,** Birdy said. She paused, then said. **So, you do pretty well for a skinny teenage kid. First Misato and now Asuka…**

"Birdy…" Shinji growled.

**Of course, it's really all thanks to my tutelage and assistance,** the Altarian continued.

_I really hope I live through this,_ he thought dourly. _If only because I don't want to die while getting teased._

* * *

"Hello, Rei," Gendo said, finding the First Child just outside the girl's locker room.

"Commander," Rei replied.

"The time is at hand," he said. "It is time for you to fulfill your purpose."

"Yes, Commander," Rei said.

He began to walk off, and Rei fell in step behind him.

Gendo failed to notice that she hadn't smiled for him like she usually did. Under ordinary circumstances, he would have, but the fruition of his scenario was finally at hand after ten long years. Though he didn't show it, he was giddy, and that giddiness caused him to be less observant than usual.

It was a mistake, but Rei had not yet decided whether he would pay for it or not.

* * *

At one of the main entrances to NERV headquarters, a lone security guard stood watch, his semiautomatic rifle clutched in his hands. He was understandably on edge, and had been ever since he'd learned of the base wide alert.

NERV never bothered putting the security guards on full battle alert when the Angels attacked. After all, what could a man with a gun do against a beast that could probably rip apart Godzilla?

So it didn't take a whole lot of deducing to realize that something was wrong.

The guard thought he heard a noise and quickly pointed his gun at it, his finger ready to squeeze the trigger.

Nothing was there.

The guard sighed. "Must've been just—"

A JSSDF commando plunged a knife into his back right then. The guard's mouth opened in a silent scream before he collapsed to the ground, a red puddle rapidly forming beneath him.

"All clear!" the commando barked, and several doors beneath him opened, revealing several of his comrades in arms.

The men poured into the base, keeping their heads down and their guns ready as they advanced. It wasn't long before they encountered NERV's next line of defense.

This one consisted of a group of men who stood shoulder to shoulder in the hallway, blocking the way. They were completely exposed and didn't appear to be carrying any weapons at all.

Every single one was, however, wearing a trench coat, a fedora, sunglasses, and a scarf that covered much of their faces.

The commandoes didn't bother to wonder at the strangeness of these seemingly suicidal men. Instead, they raised their guns and fired, sending a hail of bullets at the group.

The bullets struck the men with loud _plink!_ sounds and then bounced off, tearing through clothing but not causing a single one of them to so much as stagger back a step.

After a few seconds, the JSSDF soldiers ceased firing and merely stood there, staring at their enemies. The trench coated men continued to just stand there impassively.

Then a soldier with a flamethrower stepped forward.

"Eat this, you bastards!" he roared, and a stream of orange fire erupted from the tip of his weapon to wash over the line of defenders.

After a few seconds he halted his attack…then gasped. The weapon had burned away skin and clothing to reveal the unharmed mechanical forms of the Arcezoids that had been behind the disguises.

"Holy shit," one of the soldiers breathed.

Red light flared behind the dark visors of the Arcezoids, and they charged forward, ready to tear apart the lambs who'd thought themselves lions.

* * *

"Status report," Misato said.

Maya looked confused as she studied her screen. "Um, it looks like our defenses are holding on all fronts," she said, perplexed.

"What?" Misato frowned, looking over Maya's shoulder to see for herself. "But how can that be?"

"Maybe our defenses against human enemies are better than we thought?" Makoto ventured hopefully.

"Doubt it," Aoba said. "The Committee's been slashing our budget for base security for months. They were probably planning to do this."

"Then how are we winning?" Makoto countered.

Misato wished she could share in the bespectacled technician's optimism, but she simply knew too much about battle not to realize that their surprising success so far was a mixed blessing. If the JSSDF's soldiers didn't start advancing soon, then the Japanese government, or SEELE, or whoever the hell was pulling their strings, would order the use of _bigger_ weapons.

* * *

A single bomber flew high above the city of Tokyo-3, just outside the range of the fortress's many anti-air weapons. Its bomb bay doors opened, allowing a single, large bomb to fall out and get caught in gravity's thrall.

Down, down, down the bomb went, seeming strangely peaceful as it descended soundlessly toward the Earth.

Then it crashed into the ground and detonated.

For a few brief seconds, light more intense than that of the sun itself flared up, starting at roughly the center of Tokyo-3 and then spreading outward, covering much of the city in atomic flame in the space of a few milliseconds. A mushroom cloud stretched to the heavens, and the constructs of man crumbled and burnt under the power of a weapon of man.

* * *

"God damn it!" Makoto swore, gripping onto his chair as the base shook. "Haven't those bastards ever heard of moderation?!"

Misato, knowing that a lot of tacticians believed there was no such thing as overkill, didn't bother dignifying that with a response. "Status report!" she demanded instead.

"The city defense grid is completely off-line, and they've blown a hole in the Geofront roof!" Aoba exclaimed. "We're exposed!"

"What's the status of the Children?" Misato asked, having a feeling they were going to need the EVA Units in combat very soon.

"Rei's location is unknown," Makoto said worriedly.

"Find her!" Misato barked. "What about Shinji and Asuka?"

"Asuka's almost made it to Unit Two," Makoto said. "Shinji…oh, crap."

"What?" Misato demanded, suddenly feeling worry flood her.

"Shinji's going in the wrong direction," Makoto said. "He's several floors below the EVA cages and he's going down!"

He gestured toward his screen, which was currently displaying a video feed from one of the base's security cameras. It showed a stairwell that Shinji was rapidly descending. The Third Child was moving so fast that it was a wonder he didn't send himself tumbling down the stairs.

"_Damn it,_" Misato hissed, softly but vehemently.

Understandable though it might have been, Shinji had picked the worst possible time to panic. If the kid decided to just find a dark corner and cower in it, he was doomed once the JSSDF finally broke through whatever was holding them back. Not to mention that they were probably going to need Unit One on the battlefield soon.

Reaching a snap decision, Misato took out her pistol and disengaged the safety. "Hyuga," she said. "Once Asuka reaches Unit Two, deploy it to the Geofront."

Makoto blinked. "Where are you going, Major?" he asked, even though he already had a pretty good idea.

"To get Shinji," she answered simply.

* * *

Asuka was panting slightly as LCL filled her entry plug. Part of this was because she'd run much of the way to her EVA, part of it was simply her body preparing to enter mortal combat, but part of it was also because of what had happened with Shinji mere minutes ago.

The reason she'd given him hadn't been the truth, of course. At best, it was only a small part of the truth. Even now, even after having considered Shinji her only true ally and confidant in the whole world, she couldn't tell him the truth about that. Couldn't quite make herself that vulnerable yet.

The truth was that she wanted to try and ensure that somebody would still want her at the end of the day. Because one way or another, she knew EVA would effectively be over by the time the sun set, and her status as the Second Child would become meaningless. As she wasn't at all sure her mother could be rescued from her EVA, she'd just needed to know that someone would desire her presence once the war ended.

And if it gave _him_ that much more incentive to live through this, so much the better.

_That, and the baka's definitely grown up a lot since you first met him,_ a voice whispered from the back of her mind. _Really not the wimp he used to be._

Not long ago, Asuka would have silenced _that_ voice with a mental roundhouse kick, but now she let it go.

_It doesn't hurt that he's pretty cute,_ the voice continued._ And that you probably never would have found the nerve to do that again if you'd let that opportunity pass you by._

Okay, that, Asuka decided, was enough for now.

Fortunately, before the Second Child could get into a lengthy internal debate, the synchronization process finished.

"Asuka," Makoto said, the FROM COMMAND window popping up on her HUD. "We're deploying you into the Geofront immediately."

"Got it," Asuka replied. "EVA Unit Two! Launch!"

The electromagnetic catapult fired, sending the scarlet Evangelion barreling upwards. The journey took less time than it usually did because she wasn't going all the way to the surface, and soon she found herself staring down a small army.

She grinned as all thoughts concerning what would come after this final battle abandoned her. Here at last were minions of SEELE, the uber-bastards who had dared to make Asuka Langley Soryu into their puppet. Finally, after so much waiting, she could strike at them.

With a wordless battle cry containing all her pain and rage, Asuka sent Unit Two charging forward. The tanks and planes and heavy assault vehicles all looked like children's toys next to the enraged behemoth.

Rockets, missiles, artillery shells and tank rounds all went flying toward Unit Two as everyone with a weapon they believed might stand a chance of damaging the EVA fired. Asuka just laughed as her AT field flashed into being, halting everything that was thrown at her before it could touch her EVA.

Wading into the thick of the enemy strike force, Asuka reached up and calmly plucked a VTOL right out of the air with each hand. Both aircrafts' engines fired at full throttle as they struggled to escape her grasp, but it was utterly futile.

With a cry, Asuka hurled both planes at a line of artillery pieces which were firing a seemingly unending barrage at her. The pilots of both aircraft tried desperately to regain control, but with the way the two VTOLs were careening crazily through the sky, it was a futile endeavor. The two aircrafts crashed into the row of artillery pieces, what missiles remained inside of them exploding spectacularly.

"Awesome," she said softly.

Suddenly, there was a loud beep, and she realized that the countdown timer on her internal battery had begun. She scowled darkly as she turned, seeing that one of the VTOL's had apparently severed her umbilical with a well placed missile.

"Damn it," she muttered, ejecting the now useless power plug with a thought. "You still won't beat me! I still have my AT field and ten thousand plates of fortified armor!"

With this scream of defiance, Asuka grabbed hold of the VTOL that had destroyed her power cord and hurled it at the ground, where it crashed into a group of tanks before bursting into flame.

* * *

"That loathsome Evangelion," SEELE-09 growled.

"Once again, our plans will go unrealized," SEELE-01 said. "It is time to fight fire with fire."

* * *

High above Tokyo-3 circled nine of the largest aircraft that humanity had ever created. Most NERV personnel would have recognized them, since NERV had used planes just like them in the past. And while the planes themselves were not built for combat, their cargo certainly was.

Red Dummy Plugs, all of which had the word "KAWORU" printed on the side in English with large black letters, slid smoothly into the Mass Produced Evangelions, bringing the white EVA Units to life. Once their activation was completed, the EVA carriers released their cargo, flying off.

The Mass Produced Evangelion Series, each one of them carrying a massive, sword-like melee weapon, spread their massive wings and headed down toward the Geofront.

"The EVA Series," Asuka breathed, as she watched the nine harpies landed within the Geofront, their massive weight causing the ground where they'd touched down to crumble and break. "It's been completed."

The Second Child had no illusions about what she was up against; she had heard about the MP EVA Units for years. Not only were they significantly quicker and less expensive to manufacture than all previous Evangelion models, but they were far more modern, too. They were tougher, faster and stronger than even her Unit Two. She also felt it was safe to assume they were controlled by Dummy Plugs, which were unhindered by pain and would fight until they destroyed their target or were destroyed themselves.

A savage grin spread across Asuka's face. "I'm going to _enjoy_ tearing you apart," she said, pressing forward on her control yokes.

Unit Two sprinted forward at top speed, each powerful stride covering hundreds of meters. The red war machine crossed half the Geofront in seconds, rushing toward one of its attackers, barely giving it a chance to respond.

The harpy raised its sword, but it was pointless gesture. Unit Two leapt into the air, its feet digging deep trenches into the ground before it did so, and went soaring toward its enemy. The red giant placed its hands within the MP EVA's cruel mouth, placing its entire, enormous weight upon the white EVA Unit's head.

The MP EVA's head disappeared in a cloud of blood and gore, unable to withstand the terrific amount of pressure placed upon it. Unit Two landed on all fours on the ground behind it, sending thousands of pounds of dirt flying in the process. The decapitated harpy wobbled on its feet for a few seconds before it fell forward.

Asuka brought Unit Two back to its feet. "Who's next?" she asked.

* * *

"Where is Shinji now?" Misato barked into her cell phone as she navigated through the halls of NERV.

The whole experience reminded her of the day she'd first met the Third Child, particularly her frantic search for him in Tokyo-3 and the way she'd gotten hopelessly lost inside of headquarters. Of course, she knew her way around now, but she still felt lost as she tried to find her rapidly moving ward.

"Take a left at the next intersection," Makoto's voice answered her. "You've almost made it to him."

"Good," Misato said, jogging forward.

"Major!" Makoto suddenly exclaimed. "Wait! There's—!"

She never heard what he said next, because as she rounded the corner, her attention was totally diverted to the four men she encountered in the corridor. All of them wore trench coats, hats, and scarves.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded, lowering her phone and raising her gun.

They didn't look like JSSDF, but she wasn't about to give any mysterious persons the benefit of the doubt at the moment.

"This area is restricted," one of them said. "Leave or be removed."

Misato frowned, not least of all because she realized that the scarf over the man's mouth hadn't stirred the least bit as he spoke.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said. "I'm the Ops Director and I'm authorized to be here. Now get the hell out of my way."

"Incorrect response," the leader of the trench coat brigade said.

As one, the four men began to advance on her, taking slow, deliberate steps toward her in perfect sync with one another.

Misato immediately fired two shots right at the leader's chest. The sound of her Heckler & Koch was thunderous in the enclosed hallway, but for all the noise, the rounds didn't even seem to phase the man they slammed into.

"What?" Misato gasped, shocked by what had just happened.

One of the men suddenly lunged forward, grabbing her and causing her to drop both her gun and phone. The Operations Director struggled furiously, but her foe was impossibly strong and got her into a full nelson hold with ease.

"Let go of me!" she demanded, still fighting to free herself.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Shinji said, coming to a sudden stop.

**I didn't hear anything,** Birdy replied.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire echoed through the hallways.

**Okay, I heard **_**that**_**, **Birdy said. **I think we should probably try and avoid whatever—**

"Let go of me!"

Shinji's eyes widened. "That was Misato!"

**Shinji, wait!**

Birdy's words fell on deaf ears, however, and Shinji sprinted in the direction of all the noise. Before the Altarian could say anything further, he had come upon the scene, finding his guardian the captive of a quartet of Arcezoids.

"Let her go!" he yelled.

"Pilot detected," one of them said. "Leave this area and report for duty."

"Shinji, run!" Misato yelled. "Get to your EVA!"

"Let her go!" the Third Child repeated, ignoring both the Arcezoid and his guardian.

"Incorrect response," the lead Arcezoid droned, suddenly pouncing at him.

Almost instantly, Shinji found himself restrained just as Misato was. Tears of pain formed in the corners of his eyes as his arms were pinned behind his back, forcing them into a position that they hadn't quite been designed to ever be in. He felt his feet leave the floor as the larger figure of the robot picked him up effortlessly.

"Argh!" he cried. "Switch with me!"

"What?" Misato asked, frowning in confusion.

**I won't be able to destroy all of them before one sends a message telling all the others that I'm here,** Birdy warned. **We should—**

"I don't care!" Shinji snapped. "Do it!"

Birdy relented, and Misato's eyes widened as her charge transformed before her eyes. He became taller, the shape of his face and body changed, his clothes shifted into completely different garments, and his hair grew and changed color.

As the metamorphosis completed, Misato opened her mouth to say something, but she found that she could not currently make words.

"Raagh!" Birdy roared, pulling her arms forward.

The Arcezoid refused to release its hold on her, but the result was that its own arms were ripped from its sockets with a shower, sparks flying as wires snapped.

Before any of the mechanical men could counterattack, Birdy reached behind herself and grabbed hold of the Arcezoid's head with both hands, then tore it right off the robot's body. With another loud battle cry, she smashed the head right into the brain box of the Arcezoid closest to her, wrecking it instantly.

Of the two remaining Arcezoids, the one that wasn't holding Misato threw a punch at Birdy. The Federation officer dodged, and the robot's fist ended up embedding itself in the concrete wall of the hallway. Before it could get itself free, Birdy launched a savage kick at its head, taking it right off. The Arcezoid collapsed to ground, destroyed.

With only one foe remaining, Birdy turned and faced the robot that held Misato. Her hands shot out and grabbed hold of the Arcezoid's wrists. Birdy squeezed, crushing the metal joints and causing the machine to release its hold on Misato. Stunned though she was, the Ops Director still had the presence of mind to quickly dart away from the two combatants.

Birdy kicked the damaged Arcezoid right in the chest, sending it crashing into the wall. The robot literally went to pieces from the sheer force of the impact.

"Well," Birdy said, dusting off her hands, "that takes care of them."

"Who the _hell_ are you?!" Misato shouted, suddenly regaining the power of speech. The Ops Director quickly picked her gun up off the floor, then grabbed her phone, almost as an afterthought. "And what have you done with Shinji?"

Birdy blinked as she faced Misato, caught between surprise at the sheer force of human's glare and her desire to convey a few choice words she'd had in mind for the woman ever since the battles against the Ninth and Tenth Angels.

In the end, the Altarian decided to do the sensible thing and switched back with Shinji.

The Third Child groaned. "Why do _I _have to explain it all to everyone?" Shinji asked.

**Because I explained it all to you!** Birdy replied defensively.

He was about to point out that Inspector Megius had done most of the explaining when Misato spoke up. "Shinji, is that really you?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's really me, Misato," he said. "Look, I'll try to explain everything to you on the way, but right now we _really_ need to get moving."

He tried to resume his course to Terminal Dogma, but Misato's hand shot out and clamped down on his arm with surprising, but not painful, strength.

"No," she said firmly. "I don't know where you thought you were heading before, but now you're going to your EVA so you can help Asuka fight the invasion."

Shinji shook his head vigorously. "If I don't get to Terminal Dogma soon, it's not going to matter whether or not Asuka wins or loses out there," he said. "My father's going to try and set off Third Impact."

"What?!" Misato gasped.

Birdy answered before Shinji could, once more forcing her own voice out of his mouth. "If you want the details, then come with us," she said. "Because we _are_ going. You might be able to drag Shinji to the cages kicking and screaming, but you certainly can't do that with _me._"

Misato sighed. "Fine."

* * *

Back on the surface of the Geofront, Unit Two crossed swords with an MP EVA, literally. She had commandeered one of the huge bladed weapons from one of her fallen foes and struck at one of the harpies. The white EVA raised its own weapon to block, but the sheer force behind Asuka's attack was enough to knock it off balance.

The Second Child didn't hesitate to capitalize on her opportunity. She swung low with her sword, slicing right through one of the MP EVA's legs just below the knee. Dark red blood gushed from the severed limb, and the harpy, already off balance, went tumbling backwards. It flattened a small forest worth of trees beneath its immense weight as it crashed to the ground.

"You can't beat me!" Asuka screamed.

The Second Child raised her sword and stabbed one of the points straight into the wounded EVA's chest. It convulsed violently for a few seconds and then went still.

Removing her weapon from the corpse of the vanquished, Asuka quickly spotted her next target and send Unit Two hurling toward it. The red EVA launched itself high into the air as it approached the next MP EVA, its sword held above its head.

"I understand EVA! I know what it truly is!" the Second Child yelled as she brought her weapon down, an ungodly amount of force behind the swing.

The blade struck the hapless MP EVA in the shoulder and went downward in a diagonal slice, cleanly chopping the white death machine into two pieces. Raining blood upon the Geofront floor, Asuka's latest victim collapsed to the ground.

"I know the true meaning of the AT field!"

One of the harpies dared to approach her, swinging its blade at her in a graceless but powerful strike. Asuka blocked, but this time she was the one caught on the receiving end of an overwhelming blow. Unit Two was knocked back, and one of its huge feet happened upon an uneven patch of land. The scarlet engine of destruction stumbled and fell backwards, landing on its armored rear.

The MP EVA that had knocked her down loomed over Unit Two, smiling death's grin down at its foe.

Asuka was unafraid. "I'm finally the pilot I always claimed to be!" she shouted as she commanded Unit Two's right shoulder pylon to open, revealing a deadly spike launcher.

Metal rods, each of which was the size of a telephone pole and sharpened to a lethal point on both ends, erupted out of the weapon. The spikes impaled themselves into the white EVA's head, and for a moment, Asuka would have sworn it actually looked shocked.

Then it collapsed bonelessly to the ground.

Asuka wasted no time in getting Unit Two back to its feet, already searching for her next target.

* * *

If there was one thing absurdly long elevator rides were good for, Shinji discovered, it was comparing notes. He had been able to relate a very basic version of the story to Misato as they'd ridden the lift that went from Central Dogma down to Terminal Dogma. Also, once she'd gotten over her initial shock about the whole situation, she began to tell him about what _she_ had found out.

Which led to Shinji discovering just how SEELE had caught him and Asuka by surprise. "_Humanity_ is the Eighteenth Angel!" he groaned, feeling disgusted with himself for not figuring it out.

**Hey, it's not like you had a pile of clues to that effect,** Birdy consoled him.

"We really should have had this conversation a lot earlier," Misato said. "I'm sorry I kept pushing you and Asuka away when you tried to talk to me."

Shinji shook his head. "I should have tried harder to get you to listen."

Any further argument about who was more to blame was cut off when the elevator car stopped and the doors opened with a ping. Shinji and Misato both gasped at what they saw.

The elevator let out to a high catwalk, and below that catwalk was a huge chamber containing what looked like some kind of chemical plant had been constructed within it. Dozens of huge vats were arranged into two neat rows, there was industrial equipment scattered everywhere, and the place definitely had an acrid, chemical smell to it.

However, all the vats were empty, both Shinji and Birdy noted at once. It wasn't difficult to figure out where all the serum had gone, however. A number of tanker trucks were idling near a heavy equipment elevator, apparently ready to go.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Shinji looked to the source of the bellow and soon spotted Hikawa and Gomez standing side by side, apparently overseeing the final process of transporting the serum. Judging by the enraged expression the mad scientist wore, it was obvious that he was the one who'd shouted at them.

**Looks like it's my turn again,** Birdy said, switching places with Shinji.

"I'm an officer of the Federation," Birdy said, "and the two of you are under arrest."

"_You,_" Hikawa hissed, instantly recognizing the main source of the delays that had so plagued him so.

"Careful, Doctor, your blood pressure," Gomez said with just the barest trace of mockery to his tone.

Hikawa narrowed his eyes and turned toward the larger man. "Gomez, supervise the transport of the serum to Lake Ashi," he ordered coldly. "I will deal with this myself."

Gomez grunted. "As you wish."

As the burly man walked off, Hikawa turned his attention back to Birdy. "You were a fool to come down here, Federation officer," he said. "I will not allow you to further interfere with my plans."

Birdy snorted and jumped down so she was on the same level as Hikawa. "And how does a puny human like you plan on stopping me?"

Hikawa smirked, "Oh, I may be human, but I can assure you, I'm anything but puny."

Before Birdy could respond to that claim, the mad scientist's body suddenly began to shift and change. He let out a low, loud growl as he rapidly gained mass and grew nearly a foot in height. His black jacket exploded as rippling muscles tore through the fabric, reducing it to shreds. His dark pants held on, barely, but his shoes and socks practically exploded as his feet grew too large to be contained. In seconds, Hikawa had changed from a fairly ordinary looking, slim man to a huge, hulking monster.

"Who's puny _now_?" the beast growled in a deep, gravelly voice.

**Well,** Shinji said. **Shit.**

Hikawa rounded at Birdy like a charging bull. The Altarian jumped to avoid the attack, but she was just a little too slow. Hikawa's beefy hand was able to grab hold on her ankle, halting her escape. He pulled her down and slammed her into the metal floor with enough force to badly dent it. The impact would have killed a human, but Birdy was made of tougher stuff than the average Earthling.

Even so, the Federation officer was more than a little dazed, and she could only look up helplessly as Hikawa loomed over her, his now deformed face grinning grotesquely down at her.

The sound of gunfire tore through the chamber, and Hikawa cried out in agony as three bullets lodged themselves into his back. They did little actual damage to his immense form, but they hurt more than enough to get him to divert his attention to the shooter.

"Get the hell away from her, you freak, or the next one goes right through your eye!" Misato shouted.

Hikawa merely glared at her in response.

Suddenly, Misato let out a cry as invisible hands gripped her and pulled her off her feet, leaving her suspended in the midair. The Ops Director was cruelly flung backwards like a rag doll, which sent her flying back into the elevator. She struck the far wall of the car _hard_, causing her to see stars as she slid down to the floor.

Then, the elevator pinged, and the doors slid shut. With a burst of psionic power from the mad scientist, the elevator doors crumpled slightly, as though they'd been pressed together too hard. Satisfied, Hikawa turned back to Birdy.

Just in time to receive a savage kick to the chest. The brute went flying backwards, not stopping until he struck one of the now empty vats, which very nearly collapsed from the blow.

Birdy didn't give her foe time to catch his breath. She charged him, then unleashed a series of punches, striking him again and again with all her superhuman strength. His head snapped first to one side and then other beneath the force of her attacks, his face rapidly becoming bruised and bloody, his right eye starting to swell up after one particularly harsh blow.

Then, in the middle of this flurry of assaults, Birdy's fist abruptly stopped right before it managed to again make contact with Hikawa's face.

"What?" she gasped. "No!"

He fist began to shake as she tried to muscle her way out of the psionic grip her enemy had on her, but it was no good. She couldn't move her arm so much as a millimeter closer to him.

Hikawa grinned at her with his battered features.

And Birdy was psionically flung across the room at breakneck speed. Both she and Shinji screamed for the brief moment they were airborne, which lasted right until the Altarian crashed into a piece of industrial equipment, which was practically shattered by the impact of the alien slamming into it with the force of a cannon ball.

Birdy groaned as most of the now quite broken machine's pieces fell down on top of her. "Are we dead?" she muttered after a moment.

**No!** Shinji snapped. **We're not done yet. Now take your own advice and **_**don't**_** give up!**

"Right," Birdy agreed, though not without a degree of reluctance. "Hey, if you get any ideas on how we can win this, don't hesitate to speak up."

**Got it,** Shinji said.

The Altarian pushed aside much of the junk that was on top of her, ignoring how her body screamed in protest, until she managed to escape the remains of the ruined machine.

"Should've stayed down, girl!" Hikawa roared at her.

Several smaller pieces of equipment and metal drums were lifted off the air by the monster's power and went flying at the Federation officer. Birdy dodged nimbly, but despite her speed, she was barely able to keep ahead of the numerous missiles.

"You're doomed!" Hikawa roared. "Give up and _die_!"

The floor beneath Birdy's feet suddenly warped, raising up just enough to throw the Altarian off balance. Birdy gasped and scrambled to regain her footing.

Unfortunately, this kept her from dodging the latest attack in time, and a machine component that was roughly the size of a loaf of bread slammed right into her head. The Altarian collapsed to the ground, her vision swimming.

**Birdy?** Shinji said.

"Uh?" was all she could respond with.

**I have an idea,** Shinji said.

"And you couldn't have said that thirty seconds ago?" Birdy growled, her annoyance allowing her to regain some semblance of mental clarity.

**No,** Shinji replied, gazing at a certain sign that they position on the floor had finally caused him to spot. **Here's the plan…**

He quickly related his idea to her, and Birdy nodded. It was a long shot, but it was probably the best chance they had.

Ignoring her body's protests, Birdy jumped back to her feet.

"That all you got creep?" she taunted him. "I've had better fights sparring against academy students on Altaria!"

Hikawa responded by releasing a wordless roar of rage and charging the Federation officer. Seeing this, Birdy did the prudent thing; she turned and ran.

In other circumstances, the man probably would have realized that he was being led. However, finally succumbing to the effects of the chemicals that had sustained his life and youth for so much longer than either was meant to remain had robbed him of much of his thinking ability. As the battle progressed, conscious thought gave way more and more to a primitive, mindless desire to spill his enemy's blood.

So he followed her right through a door that had a number of large warning signs posted around it, all of which displayed a picture of lightning bolt.

The beast's impossibly broad shoulders were too wide to actually get through the door, but that didn't hinder it. The doorframe shattered as Hikawa forced his way through, not even slowing him down.

Fortunately for Birdy's sake, this room was rather poorly lit, since all the equipment contained within was meant to function with minimal human intervention. The Altarian disappeared into the shadows at the first possible opportunity, leaving Hikawa looking left and right as he searched for her.

"You can't hide forever!" Hikawa snarled.

Birdy ignored him, knowing she didn't have to hide forever.

**I think this is where the power for the umbilical cables comes from,** Shinji said, realizing he had never once wondered about the source of the juice used to power EVA.

Birdy decided this was a good thing, though she didn't dare to open her mouth and tell him as much. If he was right, it meant that there was _plenty_ of electricity here.

Spotting a cable that was as thick around as her waist, Birdy quickly tore open the plastic insulation, revealing a group of thinner cables clustered within. Randomly selecting one of these, Birdy snapped it, triggering a shower of sparks from both ends.

_Okay,_ she thought, _now—_

Hikawa's massive hand closed around her waist, and he lifted her cleanly off the ground, holding her above his head. Caught by surprise, Birdy dropped the live power cable she was holding.

"Found you," Hikawa growled triumphantly.

Birdy struggled madly, swinging her arms and legs about in an effort to strike Hikawa, but he was holding her too far away. Quickly realizing that this would do her little good, she reached down, grabbing one of his beefy fingers with both hands, trying to pry his grip open.

Hikawa responded by tightening his hold, and Birdy let out a cry of pain as the pressure rapidly became unbearable. It felt like her rib cage would shatter any second now. She couldn't breathe, and her vision began to tunnel.

**Birdy, don't give up!** Shinji pleaded, although even his voice began to weaken. **If we fail, the whole world will be destroyed!**

"I know," Birdy said, "but I can't—"

Her sentence dissolved into a scream of agony as Hikawa again increased the pressure another notch.

_I'm sorry, Shinji,_ Birdy thought. _I'm sorry, Violeen. I failed._

And that was when it happened.

Hikawa's already huge muscles suddenly bulged, swelling from enormous to outright grotesque. His skin couldn't keep up with his monstrous growth, and it split open in several places, allowing high pressure jets of blood to spurt out. The man turned beast howled in pain and dropped Birdy, starting to writhe uncontrollably.

The Altarian didn't give him a chance to recover. She grabbed hold of the cable she'd dropped earlier, and pressed it the beast's bulging flesh.

Hikawa's scream was impossibly loud as thousands of volts poured into his massive form. Birdy didn't let up and kept the wire pressed against him, even as the awful smell of burning flesh reached her nostrils.

Finally, Hikawa's screams ceased and his body rapidly shrank back to its normal size. After that, the man's flesh began to wrinkle and wither right before them, decades upon decades falling upon the man all at once. By the time this had finished, Hikawa looked like a dried up old man of well over a hundred.

Satisfied at last, Birdy took the cable away, and the corpse stopped twitching about.

**Damn,** Shinji said quietly.

"Yeah," Birdy said. "I think that about covers it."

The Altarian ventured back to the serum production plant and was unsurprised to find that Gomez was long gone, along with all the tankers. Deciding not to worry about this at the moment, Birdy went to the elevator and forced the deformed doors open, revealing Misato.

"Are you all right?" Misato asked. "Is that…thing dead?"

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Birdy asked. "Come on, we have to keep moving. We've lost way too much time as it is."

Misato nodded, then her eyes widened as something on the far side of the room caught her attention. "I think we may have another problem," she said.

Birdy turned to see that a number of Arcezoids, none of them in disguise like the ones she'd encountered earlier, were entering the chamber. She smirked and cracked her knuckles.

"After that nutcase, these tin cans will be a piece of cake," she said.

* * *

Meanwhile, not very far away from where Birdy and Misato were now, a Gendo Ikari was coming to a decision. Much as he wanted some sign from Unit One that it was time to proceed before he moved forward, he simply couldn't afford to hesitate any longer. It was time to roll the dice and trust Yui would make a less than ideal situation work, as she always had.

"Rei," he said, looking up at the crucified form of the Second Angel, "it is time."

The First Child swallowed. Despite knowing that it was inevitable, she had hoped that this moment would never come, because now she had to make a terrible choice.

The world as it was or as Gendo wanted it to be? The future or her destiny? Her purpose or her friends?

Since the war had begun, Rei had experienced both great happiness and great pain. She had known friendship and loss. And now the man before her wanted her to help him create a world where neither the good nor the bad would truly exist. She didn't know if it was worth it.

Asuka and Shinji wouldn't want Third Impact to happen, and they had both shown her more affection than Gendo had. They had cared for her not because they had a use for her; they had just cared about her.

However, this was the very reason for which she existed, the justification for her genesis. Not only that, but for so many years, Gendo had been the only person she had really known, the only one who looked out for her welfare and provided for her. He had not, according to Asuka, done an adequate job of it, but in a very real way, he was her father.

"Rei?" Gendo spoke. "It's time."

"No," she said.

Gendo's eyes widened. "But you must," he said. "It is your purpose."

"I don't want to do it," Rei said, her voice barely more than a whisper. "I don't want my friends to cease existing in their present forms. I like the world the way it is."

The Commander's eyes narrowed, and for the first time in her life, Rei truly understood why this man inspired such terror in the vast bulk of NERV personnel.

"I can make this world a living hell for you, Rei," Gendo promised in quiet, menacing tone.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Both Gendo and Rei looked to the entrance of Lilith's chamber. There, striding gracefully toward them, was Christella Revi. Behind Revi was her perpetual shadow, a girl of approximately twelve years with huge dark eyes.

"Revi?" Gendo muttered, perplexed. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd be in outer space by now. You should get off the planet quickly if you intend to survive."

Revi gave the Commander a sinister smile. "Change of plans, Ikari," she said. "I have no intention of allowing you to use the Ryunka to destroy a world as insignificant as this ball of dirt."

The woman gestured, and the little girl began to step forward.

Gendo shook his head, looking more disappointed than distraught. "I always suspected that you would betray me, Revi," he said. "But you can't beat me. Not on my world."

The man removed a remote control from his pocket. It was a simple device, boasting only a single button. Gendo pressed it.

* * *

"Raaagh!" Birdy shouted as she plunged her hand into an Arcezoid's chest and ripped out a mass of sparking wires.

The mechanical soldier collapsed to the ground, but two more moved to take its place.

This had become the story of Birdy's attack on Terminal Dogma ever since she had dispatched Hikawa. Revi had apparently consolidated all the Arcezoids not tasked with fending off the JSSDF within NERV's restricted lower levels. Birdy and Misato had barely made it a hundred feet down the corridor that led out of the serum production planet.

**This is taking too long,** Shinji said worriedly. **At this rate, my father will trigger Third Impact before we get there.** **You have to do something.**

"Like what?" Birdy asked.

Suddenly, bolts of electricity ran over all the Arcezoids that were still standing, and, as one, they all collapsed to the floor, reduced to scrap.

**Something like that,** Shinji said.

* * *

The little girl, who really wasn't a little girl at all, continued to advance toward Gendo and Rei. The Commander's eyes widened and he pressed the button on his remote several more times.

Revi's smirk widened. "Did you really think that I hadn't realized your people had sabotaged all my Arcezoids?" she asked. "I left most of the self-destruct devices where they were for the sake of preserving our alliance, but I couldn't allow the one in my favorite to remain."

"Rei, stop her!" Gendo commanded.

The First Child might not have been on the best of terms with her creator at the moment, but she didn't even had to think about whether to side with him or with Revi. A wall of orange light suddenly came into existence, shoving the small Arcezoid back several meters.

The little robot in the form of a girl was undaunted by this setback. Her blank expression never wavering, she held her right arm up. The appendage suddenly became gray and fluid. It twisted and changed, then settled on the form of a two pronged spear.

A small reproduction of the Lance of Longinus.

"Impossible," Gendo breathed.

"Not at all," Revi replied smugly. "Being able to study the genuine article while it was here made creating a duplicate quite simple for me. My version isn't as good as the real thing, but it does the job. Once I'm gone from here, I'll be able to harvest the components for my own Ryunka devices. Of course, that will still be far more of a chore than obtaining this first one will be."

The little Arcezoid plunged the tip of her Lance into Rei's AT field, piercing it easily. She wiggled the fingers of her remaining hand into the hole she'd made, then pulled the barrier open like she was tearing a curtain of cloth.

Rei's eyes widened as the Arcezoid stepped through the gap in her defenses, her arm changing back to normal as she did so. The First Child took a step back, but the robot abruptly lunged. Her hard, metal fists slammed into Rei's pale body, landing dozens of blows in the space of seconds, and the First Child collapsed to the floor.

Gendo reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol, pointing the weapon at Revi. The Arcezoid surged forward, grabbing his wrist and pushing his arm away just as he pulled the trigger. The shot went wild and was soon forgotten as the Arcezoid took the gun and crushed it in her hands.

"Now all I need are the Seeds of Life," Revi said.

She reached into her hand bag and removed a small device that was about the shape and size of a guitar pick. She pointed it at Lilith, and suddenly the Second Angel was surrounded by a sphere of white energy. The sphere abruptly shrank until it was smaller than a baseball and flew toward Revi. The crime boss carefully place it in a small box and then put the box in her bag.

"One left," she said, "and I do believe that you have it."

Gendo raised her arms in a defensive gesture as Revi pointed her little gadget at him, but a gesture was all it was. Gendo was immediately trapped within another white sphere, which obediently flew right into Revi's hands.

"At last," she breathed.

"Hold it right there!"

Heaving a sigh of annoyance, Revi turned to find Birdy and Misato standing in the doorway of the LCL Production Plant.

"Christella Revi, you are under arrest!" Birdy shouted.

The crime baroness just shook her head. "My dear, would you be so kind as to take care of this?" she asked her favorite Arcezoid.

In response, the little girl silently tore off her dress, revealing a fighting outfit that looked similar to a one piece swimsuit. Birdy and Misato immediately took note of the way some of her mechanical components were clearly visible beneath the fake skin on her limbs.

"Thank you," Revi said. "Proceed."

The Arcezoid _exploded_ forward, moving with a speed that stunned even Birdy. She slammed into the two women, easily tackling them both to the ground and pinning them there. Misato winced in agony as she felt the metallic hand press down on her.

"Thank you, dear," Revi said calmly as she passed the trio. "Please do try and catch up with me later."

And with that, she left the room and was gone.

With a roar, Birdy managed to fling the Arcezoid off of her and spring to her feet. The mechanical girl immediately got to her feet as well and threw a punch at Birdy. The Altarian blocked the blow and fired her own punch, which connected with the Arcezoid's head. The apparent little girl wasn't even fazed.

"Damn, Revi paid a _lot_ for you, didn't she?" Birdy grunted as she ducked to avoid a kick.

Meanwhile, Misato got to her feet, drew her pistol, and began to head back out of the chamber to pursue Revi.

She would have succeeded, too, but the Arcezoid noticed her. The childish looking robot bent her legs and then leapt into the air, soaring right over her opponent. Birdy, not having expected this action, was caught by surprise and failed to stop her as she sprinted toward Misato. The robot grabbed the Ops Director's arm and, with one powerful jerk, sent her flying through the air. Misato let out a cry, then she splashed into the great lake of LCL.

Birdy rounded on the Arcezoid, who turned to face her opponent before the Altarian was able to get in a free shot.

What came next was probably the least graceful battle the Federation officer had ever engaged in. There was _no_ room to maneuver around on the narrow bridge that led to Lilith's island, so the two combatants were reduced mainly to trading punches that would have shattered human bones.

"Take this!" Birdy yelled, unleashing a series of blows right at the Arcezoid's head, intending to knock it right off her narrow shoulders.

The clockwork girl staggered back a few steps as the blows connected, and the dark visors that were masquerading as eyes cracked. However, she then rolled her neck a bit and redoubled her own assault. Birdy released a soundless scream as a fist that was harder than a brick slammed into her midsection.

Under optimal circumstances, the Altarian could have won this fight. However, she'd just finished going several rounds with Hikawa and then a small army of standard Arcezoids. She soon sensed the momentum of the battle shifting against her as she took three punches for every one she landed, and she knew the power of her own blows were flagging while that of her opponent's never diminished.

**Birdy!** Shinji spoke up. **Knock her into the LCL! She'll sink like a rock!**

_Again, you couldn't have brought this up earlier?!_ The Federation officer thought as she unleashed a powerful, sweeping kick, intending to do as Shinji suggested.

The Arcezoid caught her leg, stopping it cold.

"Uh-oh," Birdy said.

Before the Altarian could even try to extricate herself, the Arcezoid performed a savage throw, slamming Birdy into the concrete floor hard enough to crack it. The Federation officer's blue eyes rolled back into her head, and her form morphed back into that of Shinji Ikari as she lost consciousness.

Slowly realizing that something was quite wrong, Shinji moved his hands over his own torso, the feel of it confirming that it really was _his_ body they were wearing again.

The Arcezoid's right arm again shifted and changed into a miniature Lance of Longinus. Shinji swallowed as he looked up at the mechanical figure standing poised to kill him.

_I was already beaten up by a little girl once. I can't be killed by one, too!_ He thought, terrified.

He would have remained there, petrified, and allowed the Arcezoid to skewer him. However, Misato Katsuragi chose that moment to make the best shot of her life, her Heckler & Koch roaring once again.

Misato hadn't had very much luck with her gun that day, and the rounds she sent against the Arcezoid would have been useless had they struck at any other time and in any other place. However, one bullet struck dead center in one of the machine's cracked optics, which shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces. The round continued forward, unabated, and proceeded to punch through several critical microchips and circuits located in the robot's head.

The Arcezoid staggered backwards a step, smoke and sparks spewing forth from her ruined eye. Then it literally fell to pieces, collapsing into a pile of spare parts that looked disturbingly like body parts right next to Shinji.

"Th-thanks, Misato," the Third Child said shakily, sitting up. He then turned to the Arcezoid's remains. "God, who the _hell_ makes a weapon that looks like a little girl?"

* * *

Meanwhile, a figure that nearly everyone had forgotten was finally ready to reemerge after spending months licking his wounds and nursing his bruised ego.

In truth, he might have liked to sulk a bit longer, but he was ever so _hungry_ that he was forced to cease sloughing around the various dark little corners and tunnels of Terminal Dogma.

And now that Revi-sama had terminated her alliance with NERV, he could finally eat the delicious feast he'd been ordered not to touch.

Oozing out of an air duct, Bachillus at last arrived inside a room he'd been forbidden to so much as enter. His stomach growled as the amber light of the room washed over him, and he surveyed the bounty before him.

Today would be a good day indeed.

* * *

Far, far above Terminal Dogma, Unit Two's batteries were coming dangerously close to depletion. The Second Child had kept a close eye on the countdown timer the entire time she'd been spilling the blood of the EVA Series, and she knew she had little more than ten seconds left.

So it was fortunate that only one harpy remained.

"This is the last one!" she screamed as Unit Two's powerful strides devoured the distance between it and her final foe.

Having lost both the sword she'd commandeered and broken her progressive knife, Asuka had nothing left but her EVA's bare hands to fight with. Fortunately, that was all she needed. She plunged Unit Two's right hand into the abdomen of the last white EVA, its armor not even slowing the scarlet war machine's fingers down. Blood sprayed from the wound, and Asuka could feel the enemy EVA's hot, soft viscera inside. She squeezed with all of her EVA's incredible might, willing the organs it grasped to explode and spray poison all through her enemy's insides.

Suddenly, one of the great sword-like weapons went flying through the air, soaring straight at Unit One.

Asuka reflexively raised Unit Two's free hand and summonsed her AT field. The wall of orange light flashed into existence, halting the weapon's movement.

Then the weapon changed, its shape and color shifting. It became a two pronged spear.

"The Lance of Longinus," Asuka whispered in horror as she watched the points of the weapon begin to push through her AT field.

Her AT field shattered, allowing the deadly weapon to complete its arc. The tips of the spear plunged into the two eyes on the left side of Unit Two's head, then erupting out the back of EVA's skull with a spray of blood. Asuka screamed in agony as her high sync ratio caused her own left eye to suffer along with her EVA's.

Then, as if to add insult to injury, her countdown timer reached zero, the numbers winking out a moment later as Unit Two shut down. The red destroyer slowly began to lean backwards. It would have fallen onto its back, but the tips of the Lance punctured the ground, propping it up in an extremely awkward position.

One by one, the white Evangelions reactivated, their S2 organs healing their seemingly mortal wounds. The harpies stood, their cruel mouths grinning horribly.

Then they attacked, converging on their suddenly helpless foe in a literal feeding frenzy. Their huge, blocky teeth tore through armor and flesh with equal ease as they tore apart one of the most fearsome weapons humanity had ever created. Blood dribbled down their chins as they feasted, their teeth and tongues being stained blue by Unit Two's blood.

When they had consumed their fill, they released their wings and flew off, like vultures that had finished consuming the dead.

Unit Two was not dead, however. It was bleeding from grievous wounds without number, and its entrails were actually hanging out of its abdomen, which had been torn open, but it was not dead. Anyone who looked could see that the Evangelion was struggling to breathe, struggling to stay alive.

It was struggling because the pilot refused to accept to defeat. Asuka had come so far, endured so much, experienced so much tragedy in her short life, that she would _not_ allow it end now. Nor would she walk away from her last field of battle the defeated party, not against the forces of SEELE, which had played her for a fool and used her like a doll for practically her entire life.

Unacceptable didn't begin to describe the idea of just giving up for her.

By sheer force of will, Asuka made her EVA reactivate, a whirl of colors slowly flying over her entry plugs walls as Unit Two reluctantly started back up, running off of nothing but Asuka's raw determination.

Keeping one hand pressed up to her wounded eye, Asuka reached her free arm upwards, and Unit Two did the same. And as the Second Child demanded more fight from her half destroyed Evangelion, she did the most bizarre thing.

She began to laugh.

It was a laugh that Shinji would have recognized immediately. The Third Child himself had emitted exactly the same kind of mirthless, crazed cackling twice before, once in Birdy's ship and once while inside the belly of the Twelfth Angel.

Asuka's normally pretty face contorted into a perfectly insane expression as her laughter rang through her plug, unceasing.

Had the MP EVA's been able to hear it, they might just have been scared.

* * *

"Rei? Rei, are you all right?" Shinji asked, kneeling next to the supine form of the First Child.

The blue haired girl didn't respond. Feeling fear spike through him, Shinji grabbed her shoulder and shook her. "Come on, Rei!" he said, desperation creeping into his voice. "You have to be all right!"

_You can't be like Violeen,_ he thought, remembering what had happened to the poor woman. He still had not completely shaken off the feeling that it had been him who had loved her like a mother and then watched her die. He wasn't sure he ever would.

Wouldn't it be cruel indeed if his half-sister died without ever knowing of the relation between them?

Shinji thought he had endured enough of such cruelty.

Rei finally stirred, opening her red eyes. "Shinji?" she said softly.

"Rei!" he exclaimed. "Thank goodness! Are you all right?"

She nodded. "I believe so, though I am not certain whether I can move properly right now."

Misato kneeled down next to Rei and examined the already forming bruises on her pale skin. "Looks like you took taps to all the major nerve points, in addition to a lot of other places," she said. "You should be fine eventually, though."

The Ops Director then turned to Shinji. "Okay, now what?"

He blinked. "You're asking me?"

"You obviously understand the whole situation better than I do," Misato replied, nodding. "And you've been doing okay so far."

Shinji paused a moment to think. "Birdy's unconscious," he said, "and there's no way to know when she'll wake up again. I don't think we can really hope to stop Revi without her help. So we should head up to the cages and get to Unit One. I think Asuka's been fighting alone long enough."

_Plus, there's no more danger of my father setting off Third Impact,_ he thought. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but he felt relieved that Revi had taken Adam and Lilith, thus ensuring that Earth would not be destroyed that day, even though it meant another world might suffer Third Impact in Earth's place.

"All right," Misato said, "sounds like a plan."

Shinji carefully picked up Rei, somehow managing to get the First Child riding on his back. Misato would have taken her, but she strongly suspected that the JSSDF soldiers weren't being held up any longer. She reloaded her pistol.

"Let's go," she said once she was done.

Shinji nodded, and the two headed out of the LCL Production Plant. They hadn't gotten very far, however, before a demented laughter that the Third Child instantly recognized rang through the corridors.

"No…" Shinji whispered, his face going pale.

"You know who that is?" Misato asked, frowning.

Before Shinji could answer her, a thick, green substance oozed out of a nearby ventilation duct, forming a puddle on the floor in front of them. A very large puddle, Shinji noticed.

"Bachillus," he said.

Part of the pile of green slime began to rise up, forming over a dozen humanoid figures which looked strangely familiar to Shinji. The monster's latest victims, no doubt.

"You…you are the one who hurt me," it said to Shinji, speaking with every mouth it had, creating a chilling chorus. "I will digest you slowly for that."

Misato had heard enough. She raised her gun and fired two shots.

Only to have the slugs bounce out a barrier of orange light.

"An AT field?!" she gasped.

"_Shit!_" Shinji exclaimed, taking a closer look at the green forms that had once been people, or more accurately, the bodies of people. "Those are the Rei clones!"

"Rei clones?" Misato echoed uncertainly.

Shinji just nodded, his mind already racing. It was clear that a container of cleaning solution wasn't going to defeat Bachillus this time, not with Rei's ability to project an AT field at his disposal.

And somehow, he didn't think Rei was up to the task of neutralizing Bachillus' field. The First Child seemed barely conscious.

So now he needed a way to defeat something with Angelic powers without using an EVA.

_I'm screw…wait a minute!_

"Misato, follow me!" Shinji said, turning on his heel and rushing back the way they'd come.

"That won't save you! I _love_ to eat and run!" Bachillus shouted, giving pursuit as Misato fell in step behind Shinji.

_Does he ever run out of lame food puns?_ The Third Child wondered as he ran as quickly as he could with Rei on his back.

In no time, they had returned to the LCL Plant with Bachillus hot on their heels. "Here, take Rei," Shinji said, handing the First Child to the Ops Director.

"What are you going to do?" Misato asked.

Shinji didn't bother to reply, fearing that answering her might slow him down a bit and cost him precious seconds. He ran over to the remains of Revi's favorite Arcezoid, picking up the right arm. It was surprisingly heavy, and Shinji hefted it with a grunt of effort.

"Bachillus!" he shouted at the rapidly advancing monstrosity. "Catch!"

The Third Child flung the miniature Lance of Longinus with all his strength at the alien, and whether through luck, talent, or the unusual properties of the weapon, it flew straight and true. The green alien's AT field collapsed the moment the Lance came into contact with it, and the weapon plunged right into the mass of slime.

"Nooooo!" Bachillus roared.

Shinji had only hoped to destroy the alien's AT field. At best, he'd expected the duplicate Lance to pin Bachillus in place. Instead, it annihilated him as totally as the true Lance had annihilated the Fifteenth Angel, the green liquid that composed his body appearing to get sucked into the weapon itself.

When the Lance fell to the ground, there was no sign of Bachillus at all.

"Whoa," Shinji said, then a small smile appeared on his face. "I kicked Bachillus' ass _twice_."

* * *

If the Mass Produced Evangelions had had the capacity for it, they would have felt annoyed. Despite all they had done to Unit Two, their red counterpart refused to accept defeat and still had the gall to keep moving.

However, they didn't have the capacity for emotions at all, so they instead decided to unleash yet another attack.

One of them hurled its melee weapon, which transformed into another Lance of Longinus as it sailed through the air, headed for Unit Two. The deadly weapon flew toward the red EVA, heading straight for the single, defiantly raised arm, ready to stamp that defiance out.

But that never happened. The Lance came to a complete and total halt just before it made contact with Unit Two and then simply hovered motionlessly in the air, as though gripped by the invisible hand of God.

Suddenly, Unit Two's external speakers came on, broadcasting Asuka's insane laughter across the Geofront.

Almost as if afraid, the white EVA's that still had their swords sent them flying through the air at Unit Two, each and every one of them transforming into a Lance of Longinus as it went.

And each and every one of them came to a stop just before it touched its target and then floated motionless in midair. Asuka's laughter increased in volume, until the very powerful speakers began to make an electronic groaning noise, barely able to handle their task.

The Lance that had impaled Unit Two's head slowly, oh so slowly, began to rise up, sliding out. Yet despite the fact that this Lance was all that had kept the red EVA from falling over when its batteries had run dry, it did not now land on its back as the weapon began to float upwards and was pulled out of the ground.

Moving smoothly and steadily, this Lance finally was removed entirely from Unit Two. Once out, it levitated just a few feet away from the scarlet Evangelion, like all the other Lances. The behemoth's eyes healed the moment it was free of the offending barbs of metal, and Asuka Soryu's eye healed with it.

The Lances all moved a small distance away from their intended target, allowing Unit Two to stand, its horrible wounds healing with impossible speed as it got back up. Then, as though what had occurred already was not incredible enough, the red EVA Unit's armored feet rose off the ground, the Evangelion itself levitating about a hundred feet off the floor of the Geofront. The Lances, which had been scattered haphazardly around Unit Two, abruptly all turned around, pointing outwards, and formed a ring around the gray and crimson giant. They began to spin about the hovering colossus, a deadly halo made of some of the most powerful weapons in existence.

Asuka's laughter, which had continued unabated the entire time, reached a crescendo then. As it did, Unit Two quickly began to change, its gray flesh becoming green and scaly. The EVA let out a roar that echoed across the Geofront, momentarily drowning out its pilot, and it rapidly began to grow, becoming even larger than it already was. What few armor plates remained on its body burst off and went flying away from the giant.

The Lances abruptly ceased orbiting Unit Two, and for a brief moment, they were completely still.

Then they all shot out, heading for the white Evangelions that had brought them to the battlefield. The weapons crashed through the harpies' AT fields as though they didn't exist and then impaled the cores of every last MP EVA.

The Units of the Mass Produced Evangelion Series all staggered back a few steps, almost in unison, then crashed down to the ground, dead.

* * *

"Ikari, what have you _done_ to Unit Two?" SEELE-07 wondered aloud, appalled at how the entire EVA Series had been felled all at once.

"This is impossible," SEELE-03 gasped. "The technology to make an Evangelion do that doesn't _exist_! No one could have developed it without our learning of it!"

"Impossible or not, it has happened," SEELE-01 said grimly. "Our ace in the hole has been trumped."

"We still have the JSSDF!" SEELE-12 spoke up.

"Against even a normal Evangelion, all other weapons of man are as toys," SEELE-02 said mournfully.

"They would be fools to remain and fight," SEELE-08 agreed sorrowfully, "and soon they will figure that out."

"Silence," SEELE-01 commanded, and the other members immediately became quiet. "With my authority as chairman of the SEELE council, I am hereby dissolving this body."

There were gasps all around the virtual meeting room.

"You can't do that!" SEELE-11 objected.

"I can, and I have," SEELE-01 replied calmly. "Now, I suggest you gentlemen get moving. I doubt any of us will be afforded very much of a head start."

With that, SEELE-01's monolith vanished from the meeting chamber.

The other monoliths lingered, but no one said anything. All of them knew only too well of what Keel had spoken of. They had all expected the world to end that day, and they had planned accordingly. Now that it looked like life on Earth as they knew it might continue, they would have to deal with enemies they'd made and debts they'd amounted.

And none of them had the means to do this.

SEELE-12's monolith suddenly vanished. SEELE-03's monolith followed, and then SEELE-06's. Seconds later, the virtual meeting chamber was empty.

* * *

Getting a signal on one's cell phone proved to be impossible in the depths of Terminal Dogma, but as she and Shinji returned to Central Dogma, she found contacting the command center was again doable.

"Hyuga," she said the instant the tech picked up his phone, "status report!"

"Major?" he replied. "Where have you been? We lost track of you a while ago and were afraid that something had happened to you and Shinji!"

"Never mind that now," she said. "What's going on? Talk to me Hyuga!"

"The JSSDF has begun to rapidly advance through the base," he replied. "The good news is that Asuka managed to destroy all the EVA Units they sent out at us, but…"

"But what, Hyuga?" Misato demanded.

"It did it by…changing," the tech said slowly, sounding as if he himself barely believed it. "And it used what looked like telekinesis."

Misato had the volume on her phone set almost at the maximum, because she knew how devastating a miscommunication could be in a critical situation. As a result of this, Shinji was able to hear Misato's conversation quite clearly.

The Third Child's blood turned to ice as he immediately figured out what had happened. His father had given Unit Two a dose of Hikawa's serum, probably when the Second Child's combat performance had begun flagging. That was probably why the red EVA had gone so completely berserk while fighting the Sixteenth Angel.

Then a truly horrible thought occurred to him, one that made him feel physically ill.

Could the serum get from Unit Two's system to the LCL in Asuka's plug?

He didn't know, but it seemed far too likely.

"Eject Asuka's plug," he said loudly, leaning toward the phone.

"Huh?" Hyuga replied in confusion. "But the JSSDF hasn't withdrawn yet."

"I'll handle the JSSDF," Shinji said. "I've almost gotten to Unit One."

"It seems like it's too big of a—"

"_Eject Asuka's plug!_" Shinji yelled. "_Do it!_"

"You heard him!" Misato added. "Eject Unit Two's plug, now!"

"Yes, Major!" Makoto replied.

* * *

Outside, a series of rockets embedded within the end of Asuka's entry plug fired, and at the same time a group of small explosives blew the armor that covered the plug off of Unit Two's back. The Second Child's link to Unit Two was abruptly terminated as her plug went soaring out of EVA, her psychotic laughter finally terminating.

The plug flew through the air for a few seconds, quickly moving away from Unit Two. Then the rockets cut off and a cluster of parachutes deployed, allowing the cigar shaped metal container to land smoothly, roughly a kilometer away from the EVA it had come from.

Working mostly on autopilot, the Second Child opened the hatch and stumbled out, soon expelling the LCL from her system. Once it was out of her and she was breathing air again, she pressed a hand to her forehead, suddenly feeling very woozy. The events of the past few moments took on a strangely dream-like quality.

She looked to her EVA, and her eyes widened. The mutated engine of death hadn't gone dormant when she'd left it, and it continued to hover over the surface of the Geofront in all its terrible glory, roaring in triumph.

She gasped as she saw what it had become, horrified by the sight. She'd realized it had changed while she was inside it, but Asuka hadn't realized the full extent of those changes until she managed to see it from the outside.

"Mama…" she whispered.

* * *

"Finally here," Misato said as she and Shinji entered the cage where Unit One was berthed.

"Yeah," he agreed, feeling tired from running nearly the whole way and carrying Rei the whole time.

_At least we didn't run into anything after Bachillus,_ he thought.

As they neared the entry plug, Shinji gently passed Rei to Misato. The First Child was recovering from the Arcezoid's assault, but it was obvious she was still far from a hundred percent just yet.

"Rei," he said, deciding that he had to get this out before he departed, even though it probably wasn't the best time for it. "I know where my father got the human DNA he used to create you."

The First Child's red eyes widened, but she didn't say anything, so Shinji continued on. "And I guess that makes us half siblings," he said, giving her a smile. "At least, I'd be happy if you considered me a brother."

Rei flushed a delicate pink. "I would…like that," she said softly.

He smiled. "Good," he said. "And since we're brother and sister, I want you to know that you're not alone, regardless of what might happen to my father today."

"I understand," Rei said. "Thank you."

He nodded and headed for the entry plug but stopped just before climbing in. "Both of you," he said, turning back to Misato and Rei, "don't die."

Misato smirked. "Right back at you, Shinji-kun."

Nodding, the Third Child finally slipped inside of his entry plug. The hatch quickly slid closed, and the plug was inserted into its proper place. LCL flooded the plug as he put his A-10 clips, the EVA activating soon afterwards.

"EVA Unit One!" he shouted. "Launch!"

The electromagnetic catapult fired, sending Unit One rocketing upward to battle for the final time. Seconds later, the purple war machine arrived on the Geofront floor, not far from Unit Two.

The Third Child paled as he looked upon the towering form of what had once been Asuka's EVA. Secretly, he had always felt that his own EVA was the most fearsome of the lot. Something about it had always suggested an air of menace that he'd felt every other Evangelion he'd ever seen didn't possess to the same degree.

Now, however, he knew he'd been wrong. Unit One wasn't the most fearsome Evangelion, Unit Two was.

Swallowing as Unit Two turned and glared murder at him, Shinji could only wonder what he'd gotten himself into.

* * *

Author's Notes: Whoo, that was a beast of chapter. I hope nobody minds too much that I sort of glossed over a lot of Asuka fighting the EVA Series, but I had _so_ many other battles to write, I didn't think it was smart to use too much ink describing a battle you can pretty much watch by viewing EoE.

Oh, and I realize that the way Birdy killed Hikawa might not be terrifically original, but electricity was obviously her weapon of choice in the OAV, so I felt that she had to use it on somebody besides random Arcezoid number 236.

I suspect some of my readers won't be terribly pleased by the development between Asuka and Shinji, but it was the plan for a while now, and it felt right when I wrote it, so I decided to keep it as it was.

Animefan, you're right, Kaworu probably shouldn't have been able to sync with Unit One. However, as it wasn't really important to the plot anyway, I didn't really give it that much thought.

Not much else to say, except thanks as always to my readers and reviewers. Now for some fun.

* * *

Omake

Cheap Imitation

Hikawa smirked, "Oh, I may be human, but I can assure you, I'm anything but puny."

Before Birdy could respond to that claim, the mad scientist's body suddenly began to shift and change. His black jacket exploded as rippling muscles tore through the fabric, reducing it to shreds. His dark pants held on, barely, but his shoes and socks practically exploded as his feet grew too large to be contained. In seconds, Hikawa had changed from a fairly ordinary looking, slim man to a huge, hulking monster.

"Who's puny _now_?" the beast growled in a deep, gravelly voice.

**Well,** Shinji said. **Sh—**

"You…you knockoff!" Misato suddenly shouted, getting everyone's surprised attention.

"Shinji," Birdy said slowly. "Is she…turning green?"

**Uh, yeah.**

The Ops Director's clothes suddenly exploded as the power of her gamma irradiated blood rushed to the fore, and muscles erupted from _her_ frame as one of the Superwomen of Eva emerged.

"SHE-HULK SMASH!"

The two giants charged one another and began exchanging furious punches, but it soon became obvious that, while they were roughly the same size, one of them was a _lot_ stronger than the other.

"Puny copy should no show face to She-Hulk!" Misato shouted as she effortlessly lifted Hikawa's huge form of the ground. "Copy should know that She-Hulk have market on hulking monsters cornered!"

With a cry of rage, she hurled her victim into the floor with enough force to send him right through it. Hikawa let out a cry of pain as he fell.

Her opponent defeated, Misato turned to the audience and smiled pleasantly, then struck a double biceps pose, her already prodigious muscles swelling enormously into impossibly huge, peaked mountains of power.

"Remember kids, it's the She-Hulk," she said cheerfully. "Accept no imitations."


	17. Chapter 17

* * *

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Chapter Sixteen:** Reckonings**

JSSDF Colonel Takehito Kiyokawa had seen some truly insane shit in his time as a soldier. Every man who'd fought in the brief but hellish conflicts that had followed Second Impact had.

However, none of the atrocities he'd witnessed in those dark days—not the use of bio and chemical weapons, not the use of child soldiers, not the gunning down of helpless civilians—compared to watching Unit Two mutate into an even more terrifying monster than it had already been and destroying the EVA Series in one fell swoop.

"What do we do, sir?" one his subordinates asked worriedly. "If that thing turns its attention back to us…"

Kiyokawa swallowed, wavering. Unit Two had been ripping apart their forces _before_ its horrifying transformation; he didn't even want to think what it would do now. On the other hand, he knew that the consequences of failing this mission could be potentially catastrophic on a global scale.

Then, an immense hatch in the ground opened up, and the violet and green form of Evangelion Unit One emerged onto the battlefield.

That settled it for him. "To hell with _this_ shit," he said. "Sound the retreat! We're getting the hell out of here!"

* * *

Shinji swallowed as Units One and Two simply stared one another down, neither Evangelion making a move just yet. He remembered the mutated individual that Hikawa had had attack Birdy as a test, and he recalled how scary that guy had been.

Next to Unit Two, _that_ guy was nothing.

_Oh god, what the hell am I _doing_ out here?_ Shinji wondered, feeling more soundly paralyzed by fear than he had been since facing the Third Angel.

The FROM COMMAND window suddenly appeared on his HUD, snapping him out of his terrified stupor.

"Shinji," Makoto said, "good news. The JSSDF is withdrawing. However, Unit Two isn't responding to the termination signal, and we can't just leave a berserk EVA unrestrained. We need you to take it down."

"R-Roger," Shinji said, cutting the communications link.

He took a deep breath, trying to find the courage from somewhere to attack Unit Two.

_Shinji, you mustn't run away,_ a voice in his head that sounded like Misato spoke.

_Don't give up,_ another voice that sounded like Birdy (but wasn't) added. _Do that and you're already dead._

He nodded, suddenly feeling a great deal calmer and more sure of himself. He pushed forward on his control yokes.

Unit One sprinted forward at top speed toward the transformed Evangelion, and Shinji released a wordless battle cry, mentally grafting the skull like face of the Fourteenth Angel onto Unit Two, trying to summons the same rage and bloodlust he'd felt back then.

He was successful; Unit One's fist slammed into Unit Two's head with enough force to send even the Angel of Might reeling.

Unfortunately, against Unit Two, this proved grossly insufficient. The once red EVA's head was snapped to the side by Unit One's punch, but otherwise it didn't react at all.

Shinji's eyes widened fearfully. "You've got to be kidding me," he whispered.

Unit Two slowly turned its head so it was facing forward again. It gave Unit One a look as if to ask, "Do I _look_ like I'm kidding?"

Then Unit Two's fist slammed into Unit One's torso with the force of a rocket, and Shinji screamed as his EVA was sent flying. The purple destroyer soared over nearly half the length of the Geofront, then stuck the ground, bouncing once, twice, three times before it finally came to a stop, collapsing in a heap.

"Ouch," Shinji groaned, not feeling very motivated to get his Evangelion back on its feet and fighting.

_Maybe if I don't move it'll assume I'm dead,_ he thought dazedly, though he didn't have much hope.

Shaking his head to clear it, he wracked his mind for some way he could potentially beat a berserk Evangelion on alien steroids.

No less than nine Lances of Longinus were scattered about the battlefield, waiting to be claimed, he noted. However, he felt it was fairly safe to assume that the white Evangelions had brought them to the party, and yet it was obvious that the Lances had been the instruments of _their_ destruction.

Therefore, he really didn't think they were the key to victory against Unit Two.

A slight groan from inside his head interrupted his frantic musings. **Ugh,** Birdy said, slowly waking up. **Shinji? What…oh crap!**

He directed his attention back at his display and felt his blood turn to ice as he saw the now mostly green form of Asuka's EVA soaring through the air, leaping at his EVA's supine form.

Reacting without thinking, Shinji commanded his EVA to roll to the side. He just _barely_ got clear before Unit Two hit the ground with enough force to shake the Earth. Shinji had no doubt that the mutant EVA would have crushed Unit One's armor like an aluminum can had it landed on the purple mecha.

Shinji brought Unit One scrambling to its feet just in time to avoid a savage haymaker thrown by Unit Two.

"I don't suppose you have any suggestions on how I can beat this thing?" he asked as he leap back to avoid a kick.

**Unfortunately, no,** Birdy replied. **How did we even get here?!**

Shinji would have offered a few words of explanation, but Unit Two decided to take another swing at him, roaring savagely as it did so. The Third Child dodged the blow with relative ease, but then he frowned.

Something about that punch tickled something in his mind.

_I'm missing something,_ he thought.

Against his better judgment, Shinji didn't retreat when Unit Two drew a little closer, instead putting his own EVA into a defensive stance.

The green EVA unleashed a two-punch combination, then followed it up with a sweeping kick. Somehow, Shinji dodged both fists and then jumped to avoid the swing of the mutant EVA's bulky leg.

That was when it finally clicked. Despite not having its pilot any longer, Unit Two was still fighting like Asuka, as though the Second Child's fighting style had been imprinted upon her EVA from her years of training in it.

And Shinji knew how Asuka fought. In spite of what most people who knew about it believed, the intensive synchronization he and Asuka had endured prior to their second confrontation with the Seventh Angel hadn't just been about mastering the routine used to kill said Angel. It had also been about learning about how to predict the other's movements and actions in combat. This was—theoretically—supposed to have made them function better as a team, although Asuka's ego had generally prevented that part from working like it was supposed to.

Nevertheless, they _had_ generally been able to predict the other's actions in battle when they put their mind to it; a few matches in the simulator had been enough to establish that much to him. Of course, since Asuka had also been able to read him, it hadn't given him any edge in their rare, simulated bouts.

Now, though, he thought it might actually help him at last. With any luck, Unit Two hadn't picked up Asuka's ability to read him.

Gripping the control yokes hard enough to turn his knuckles white, Shinji sent Unit One on the attack. The violet EVA lunged forward, administered three quick jabs at Unit Two's head, then dodged the punches the green war machine threw in retaliation.

"Ha!" Shinji shouted triumphantly as he gave Unit Two a sharp kick in the chest, sending it staggering back a couple of steps.

He couldn't hope to match the mutated EVA where power was concerned, but he _could_ run rings around it and make it die the death of a thousand cuts.

**I don't know **_**how**_** you're doing this,** Birdy said while Unit One nimbly avoided getting sliced to ribbons by Unit Two's deadly claws, then delivered a swift kick to the ribs, **but keep it up.**

Shinji just nodded, not daring to take his full focus off Unit Two for an instant. He knew only too well that, while the momentum might well be on his side at the moment, this thing Asuka's EVA had become would need only one good blow to regain control of the battle, if not end it outright.

So, with an intensity and focus he'd rarely if ever had before, he attacked and dodged, attacked and dodged. And, though he didn't quite realize it until he was doing it, he eventually found himself performing a modified version of the routine he and Asuka had used on the Seventh Angel. The Third Child delivered a particularly hard blow to Unit Two, sending it reeling, then he launched into a number of backwards cartwheels with his own EVA Unit to get some distance between him and his enemy.

The green EVA seemed to regain its bearing and stared at Unit One, looking almost curious.

Shinji leaped high into the air, sending Unit One soaring toward Unit Two, its leg extended and ready to deliver the knockout kick right to its chest, hoping to put it down once and for all.

He realized someone was screaming a fierce battle cry, then a moment later realized that it was him. Unit Two just stood there, and Shinji dared to believe that the mutated EVA was too shocked to respond to his attack.

Then, Unit One stopped dead, its enormous, armored foot mere meters away from making contact with Unit Two.

Time itself seemed to halt as Unit One hung suspended in midair, completely motionless. For most of the long few seconds, Shinji didn't even dare to breathe.

Finally, the Third Child let out a long sigh. "Psi-powers," he said. "Crap."

Then Unit One was flung away from its opponent with the speed of a bullet, a brief but thunderous _crack_ sounding through the Geofront as the purple destroyer broke the sound barrier. His umbilical cord quickly ran out of slack, but that didn't do anything to halt or even slow the insane flight of Evangelion Unit One. Instead, the tree trunk thick electrical cord snapped like a piece of thread, the piece that was still connected to the power plants inside NERV spitting a hailstorm of sparks that quickly set alight part of the forest inside the Geofront.

No, Unit One didn't stop until it had crashed into the far wall of the Geofront with more than enough force to embed the war machine in the concrete barrier.

Shinji, feeling like he'd just been struck with the hammer of Thor, let out a low groan, slumped forward, and passed out, his body immediately morphing into that of Birdy Cephon as he did so.

"Sh-Shinji?" she said, ignoring the sudden buzz of chatter over the radio. "Shinji, wake up!"

The Third Child did not regain consciousness, however, Unit One did fall out of the crevice in the Geofront wall that it had created, immediately falling flat on its face in a near perfect reenactment of Shinji's less than glorious first moments in EVA.

"Damn," Birdy groaned.

The Altarian looked up and was able to see in the display that Unit Two was advancing toward its prone foe.

She also realized two other very important facts: Unit One had not deactivated, and it falling to the ground had actually caused her some pain. On a hunch, she reached up and touched her head. She was somehow not very surprised to find that Shinji's A-10 connector clips were in her hair. There was no question; she was synched with Unit One.

"Thanks, Yui," Birdy whispered, gripping the control yokes. "Any other help you might wish to give me would be very much appreciated."

With considerable effort, she managed to get the violet and green war machine to is feet, wobbling and threatening fall over again the entire way. Her sync ratio was probably a _lot_ lower than the Third Child's.

"Geeze," she said, gritting her teeth, "this looks a lot easier when Shinji does it."

Finally, she got Unit One on its feet and balanced. She looked out and saw Unit Two approaching at an almost leisurely pace, like it was sure it had this battle all wrapped up and merely needed to finish off its opponent.

Unfortunately, Birdy wasn't at all sure that it was wrong. She had no idea how Shinji had been able to avoid its attacks as easily as he had, and she was extremely aware of the internal battery's timer counting down at what seemed like a ludicrously fast pace.

Nevertheless, the Federation officer was _not_ one to throw in the towel when things started looking bleak. She somehow managed to get Unit One into an attack stance just before Unit Two drew to within striking distance.

Deciding that it would be foolish to play defense, since she could barely keep Unit One balanced, Birdy threw a punch with Unit One's gauntleted fist the moment Unit Two came close enough.

The blow slammed into Unit Two's head and sent the green monster flying. It spun crazily through the air for several seconds before finally landing in a heap, the impact of its collision with the ground powerful enough to leave a deep, EVA-shaped crater in the Earth.

And, as luck would have it, it landed upon the now flaming part of the Geofront's forest. The mutated EVA _howled_ in agony and began beating at the flames in a desperate attempt to put them out.

Birdy blinked. "How did I _do_ that?" she wondered, recalling Shinji's ineffective punch of just a few minutes ago.

The answer came to her a moment later. Her power techniques! She must be able to make Unit One use them somehow! Grinning predatorily, she advanced toward the green EVA, not even the shakiness of her steps was enough to wipe the smile off her face.

The monstrous EVA staggered back to its feet, and the Altrian pounced.

"Raaagh!" Birdy cried, sending Unit One's fist crashing into Unit Two.

The green Evangelion staggered back several steps, and Birdy advanced, throwing another punch, and another, and another. Dark blue blood flew out of the green Evangelion's mouth with each blow she landed, and as they again drew near to the center of the Geofront where the NERV pyramid and the lake lay, and one of its four yellow eyes ruptured, dark ooze gushing out.

"You're finished, you monster!" Birdy shouted. "I'll put you down just like I did Hikawa and all his other little experiments!"

Then, as though the universe was punishing her for taunting so powerful an enemy, Unit Two solidly caught Unit One's left fist as it attempted to unleash another dose of punishment.

"Crap," Birdy said flatly.

With lightning quick speed, Unit Two grabbed hold of Unit One's left arm with both hands, then savagely bent the limb in ways it was not supposed to bend. A loud cracking sound was heard in the Geofront as Unit One's incredibly thick bones snapped.

Birdy screamed in agony and was unable to keep Unit One from falling to its knees as Unit Two released its hold on its enemy.

**Birdy! Let me take over again!** Shinji suddenly spoke up.

"Shinji?! When did you wake up?" Birdy demanded.

**Uh, a little while ago, but you were doing so well I didn't want to interrupt,** Shinji replied sheepishly.

Birdy was about to make a retort, but she knew that now was _not_ the time for their usual bickering. She decided that if Shinji wanted this fight back, he was welcome to it, and she switched places with him.

The Third Child grimaced the moment he was back in command of EVA, allowing him to feel the horrible pain of its broken arm. He forced the pain down; he had experienced worse in his time as a pilot, and at least this time he hadn't had to endure the actual breaking of the appendage.

Unit Two attempted to grab Unit One's heads with both its hands, probably intending to squeeze the purple EVA's head until it burst like an overripe piece of fruit. Shinji, however, rolled Unit One out of the way, brought it back to its feet, and fired a quick jab at Unit Two's beefy neck with Unit One's good arm, phasing the green EVA but not doing much more.

**Shinji, we don't have time for you to try and overwhelm it with a million little attacks!** Birdy said. **We've only got about a minute left!**

His gaze quickly flicked over to the countdown timer, confirming that Birdy was indeed correct. Shinji cursed.

"Think that you can handle offense while I take defense?" Shinji asked.

**Not a chance,** Birdy practically scoffed. **I'm not half as coordinated in this thing as you are. If we try to switch back and forth in the middle of a fight, I'll just end up making Unit One fall on its ass.**

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Shinji grunted as he made Unit One dance out of the way of a particularly fierce looking kick from Unit Two.

**Stop being fancy and go for the core,** Birdy answered immediately.

"But Asuka's mother's soul is in there!" he protested.

**Shinji, there's no choice!** Birdy said. **Sometimes, we have to do what we must.**

Taking a deep breath, he deployed his progressive knife and took the weapon in EVA's hand. The moment Unit One's fist closed around the handle seemed to elongate as Shinji wondered just how many times exactly he had used this knife, which had almost always proven itself more effective than the pallet rifle.

Not that it mattered. He'd never used it to snuff out a human soul from existence.

"Sorry about this, Asuka," he whispered.

Then he lurched forward, tackling Unit Two and plunging the blade into the green monster's abdomen.

* * *

Still standing near her entry plug, Asuka gasped and covered her mouth with both hands as she watched Shinji stab Unit Two right in the midsection with his prog knife.

It was an image she was forced to watch for only a moment; the two Evangelions crashed into the lake moments after the smaller one had tackled the larger one, creating a massive wave that soaked the land surrounding the lake in all directions. Almost instantly, the two enormous figures disappeared beneath the surface of the dark water.

"No," Asuka breathed, horrified.

Deep down, she knew that what Shinji had done was both understandable and defensible. Correct, even.

After all, she had had the harsh fact that innocent people would become collateral damage in the war against the Angels since she was a very young child. NERV had informed her in no uncertain terms that if she wasn't okay with that—if she couldn't deal with that—then she would be useless to them.

But never before had someone she cared about become a casualty.

Unit One suddenly emerged from beneath the surface of the lake, water pouring off its violet form in a thousand rivulets. Unit Two didn't follow, and Asuka felt tears sting her eyes.

"Mama," Asuka whispered, screwing her eyes shut to prevent her tears from falling.

The Second Child fell to her knees before her entry plug. "No, Gott damn it," she muttered. "No."

* * *

Shinji checked his countdown timer as Unit One strode out onto the shores of the lake. He had slightly less than half a minute left. Hopefully, that would be enough time.

He directed Unit One to squat down, its powerful legs muscles coiled and ready to release everything they had in one great motion. He turned his gaze upwards to look at the gaping hole the JSSDF's N2 mine had left in the ceiling of the Geofront.

"Get ready, Birdy," he said.

Already having the general idea of what Shinji planned to do, the Altarian didn't bother to ask what she should be getting ready for.

**Why are you about to try this?** She asked instead.

"We have to stop the chemical dump and get Revi," Shinji answered. "We need to be on the surface to do that."

Had he given any other reason, Birdy would have objected most strenuously to his planned course of action. As it was, she just said, **Then let's go.**

The Third Child released the power in Unit One's coiled leg muscles, and the purple and green Evangelion went soaring upwards. It was a leap that an Olympic athlete would have envied, but not even an EVA could jump from the Geofront floor all the way to the roof.

Fortunately, Shinji hadn't for a moment suffered from the illusion that it could. As Unit One reached the apex of its incredible jump, the Third Child reached out and grabbed a lever that was attached to the side of his command chair, strategically positioned to be easy to get at while impossible to pull accidentally.

He tugged it hard, and his entry plug burst out of its place in Unit One's back, small rockets igniting in the back of it and sending them further upwards. He couldn't have timed it better with the aid of the MAGI; he'd ejected the plug the very instant before Unit One began to fall.

Yet it still wasn't enough. The little rockets inside the entry plug were only meant to get the container holding the pilot a safe distance away from the Evangelion in case of an emergency. They weren't exactly meant for cross country travel.  
Shinji opened the plug hatch and stood up, getting the top half of his body out of the LCL. The wind was incredible, drying his face and hair of amber substance almost instantly. He expelled the stuff that was in his lungs, then turned his face upwards, squinting against the rush of the wind as he looked toward the hole in the Geofront ceiling.

The entry plug reached the height of its arc.

"Now!" Shinji shouted.

Instantly, the Third Child was replaced by the Federation officer, who jumped from the plug just before it could commence its descent. She flew through the air, kicking her legs as she did so, only too conscious of how insanely high she was. A fall from this height could kill even her.

The edge of hole in the roof drew nearer, nearer.

Birdy felt herself slowing down as her momentum began to run out and released a strangled cry.

And her hand _just_ barely managed to grab onto the edge of the hole that had been blasted into the roof.

Gasping with relief, the Altarian grabbed hold with her other hand, then hoisted herself up. She could barely believe now that they had done it and managed to get to the surface of Tokyo-3 in such an insane manner.

**That was **_**way**_** too close,** Shinji said.

"You're telling me!" Birdy agreed. "Now, where are we going exactly?"

**Lake Ashi,** Shinji replied. **They're going to dump the serum there, remember?**

Birdy nodded and leaped to the top of a small building, then began to jump from rooftop to rooftop, making her way through the city faster than even Misato could with her Renault Alpine and no traffic.

"Why are they going to use Lake Ashi, anyway?" Birdy asked she went.

**Lake Ashi is the city's water supply,** Shinji answered. **If they contaminate it, they'll transform everyone in Tokyo-3.**

Birdy frowned. "How do you know that?" she asked.

Shinji Ikari wasn't stupid, she knew, but he was often remarkably incurious. There were questions about the Angels, the Evangelions and the aliens that had infested Earth that he had either waited to pose for far longer than she would have, or that he'd simply never asked at all. Yet he knew where the city's drinking water came from.

Shinji sounded sheepish as he answered her. **It was in a lot of the tabloids and stuff for a long time, before you showed up,** he explained. **There was this wild rumor that NERV had done some illegal chemical dumping into the lake, and that it caused some mystery girl to grow wings. It was nonsense, but everyone was talking about it for a while.**

Birdy laughed. "Hey, is it so much crazier than what's been going on in your life lately?"

**I guess not,** Shinji admitted.

Neither of them mentioned how unlikely it was that Birdy would be able to defeat Gomez in her battered and exhausted state. There was really no need to, since they both felt the same way. They knew that the odds were against them, but they could _not_ just allow Revi to escape, and the serum dump had to be stopped.

* * *

"Revi-sama, I must advise you to return to the ship," Gomez said, "for your own safety."

"Nonsense," Revi replied. "She will finish the Federation officer and return. I wish to be here to congratulate her when she does."

Gomez just grunted in response, knowing how futile it would be to argue with his employer. The two of them currently stood at the edge of Lake Ashi, where several of the tanker trucks had already begun the process of emptying out their contents into the water. It would take a good while before the water supply was well and contaminated by the serum, and Gomez felt that they were painfully exposed in their current position.

"Christella Revi!"

_Damn,_ Gomez thought, hating being right as he turned to see the Federation officer standing atop a nearby building.

Revi's eyes narrowed, knowing that if the Federation officer had survived, it meant that her favorite Arcezoid—her surrogate daughter—had not.

"Gomez," she said.

"Yes, Revi-sama?"

"I want to look into her eyes as she dies," Revi said.

"Yes, Revi-sama," Gomez said.

Birdy launched herself toward the crime boss and her henchmen with a cry of rage, murder in the Altarian's blue eyes.

Gomez stepped in front of Revi, and Birdy crashed into him like he was the rock of Gibraltar. She bounced off of him, dazed, while the burly man didn't budge so much as an inch.

"It was extremely unwise of you to come here," Gomez said flatly as Birdy looked up at him.

Despite her aches and her weariness, Birdy hopped up to her feet and lunged at Gomez her fist flying. The big man grabbed her wrist almost casually, halting her attack cold.

"Your temper got the better of you, again," he said, sounding almost disappointed. "You should have learned to control it. You might have been able to challenge me if you could do so."

He picked her up and hurled her away. Birdy let out a cry before she crashed into a nearby building, chunks of concrete flying as she crashed right through the wall. The Altarian groaned.

Gomez sighed as though this was nothing but a huge bother. He calmly walked forward into the building where he'd flung Birdy, carefully entering through the hole the Altarian had created. He found her laying within a pile of rubble, looking like she was only semi-conscious.

"I'd make this quicker," he said, "but you seriously offended Revi-sama."

He reached down to grab hold of her neck and pick her up.

And that's when Birdy made her move. The Altarian pulled a live power cable she'd been hiding in the pile of broken concrete and pressed it to him, letting out a loud, wordless cry as she did so.

"Can't handle my temper, can I?!" Birdy demanded as his expensive business suit began to blacken and burn. "Guess I can't wait for the right moment to strike, either?!"

Gomez didn't respond to her taunt; he didn't even scream. The man just writhed about wildly, a shocked expression on his face. Birdy kept the wire pressed to him until he'd collapsed to the ground and was jerking around there, then she held it to him for a while longer yet, just to make sure.

Finally, she let it go. "Shouldn't have flung me into one of the buildings that has the umbilical cables, Gomez," she said. "There's live wires all over the place in these things."

She dusted her hands off and left the building, walking with slow, deliberate steps toward where Christella Revi waited. A savage smile spread over her face as she approached, cracking her knuckles. Finally, after so many years, revenge for Violeen was hers.

"Hello, Revi," she said to the woman in a soft, dangerous voice as she drew near.

Revi just stared coldly at her.

Then something that felt about as hard as a brick struck her on the back of the head with incredible force. Birdy collapsed to the ground, struggling mightily not to pass out as her vision swam.

She turned and was amazed to see Gomez looming over her. She could see gruesome looking burns on his torso where his clothing had been burned away, but the man acted as if he didn't feel the terrible wounds at all.

**How is he even **_**alive**_**?! **Shinji wondered incredulously.

"Good question," Birdy muttered as she slowly, stubbornly rose to her feet.

Gomez's fist shot out and struck Birdy right in the solar plexus with enough force to shatter stone.

It was just too much for the Federation officer to withstand. For the second time that day, she lost consciousness, and Shinji Ikari was the one who landed painfully on his rear.

"You?!" Hikawa exclaimed, recognizing the Third Child instantly.

The pieces rapidly clicked into place into the big man's mind, and he realized that the hapless human boy that Geega had used to avoid the Federation officer was, by some massive coincidence, none other the pilot of Unit One. It actually explained quite a lot when he thought about it.

The henchmen smirked as he regarded the puny human. The boy looked like he was about to wet himself.

Which was why he was caught entirely by surprise by what Shinji did next. The Third Child launched himself at with Christella Revi with a savage cry, tackling the stunned woman to the ground.

"I'll make you pay for what you did to Violeen!" Shinji yelled down at her.

Before he could actually _do_ anything, however, Gomez grabbed him by the back of his collar and picked him up off of his employer.

"My sincerest apologies, Revi-sama," Gomez said, helping his employer up with his free hand. "It won't happen again."

"See that is doesn't," Revi said indignantly. "Dispose of him, Gomez."

"Yes, Revi-sama."

Gomez placed one of his great mitts over Shinji's head and began to squeeze. The Third Child's eyes widened as he felt the rapidly increasing pressure on his skull, feeling certain that it would crack like an egg soon. He thrashed about wildly, trying to break free, but Gomez held firm, his grip never wavering.

So it was extremely fortunate for him that Birdy chose that particular moment to regain consciousness.

The Altarian immediately switched places with Shinji and unleashed a kick at Gomez's burnt midsection. The man released a grunt of pain and released her, causing Birdy to fall unceremoniously to the ground. She quickly scrambled to her feet and got into a defensive stance.

The henchman looked at her from over the rims of his sunglasses, fixing her with a piercing glare. "This is a futile fight for you, Federation officer," he said. "You've been fighting all day. You're exhausted. You're battered and bruised. You're _weak_."

"You're injured," Birdy pointed out.

"Am I?" Gomez replied. "I'd forgotten."

**Uh, Birdy, I'm not sure that we can win this fight,** Shinji said quietly.

"I can't just run away," Birdy said stubbornly. "I won't."

"Retreat and live, hold fast and die," Gomez said. "Those are your only choices now."

_There has to be a third option,_ Birdy thought, willing either her mind or Shinji's to find it.

Because she didn't want to die, and retreat was no option at all. She couldn't turn and run from this fight; not only would she regret it forever, but Revi had the makings of a Ryunka. Billions would die if she was allowed to escape.

"It's over," Gomez said, as final as death.

Suddenly, a great shadow fell over them, and Birdy Altera Cephon smiled. "Yes it is," she agreed.

Gomez turned just in time to see the colossal form of Evangelion Unit Zero standing behind him. He was amazed that the giant blue mecha was able to approach so soundlessly.

It reached down and picked Gomez up, gripping him gingerly between its thumb and forefinger. The big man struggled, but even his enormous strength was dwarfed by that of an Evangelion.

Birdy laughed triumphantly. "Thanks, Rei!" she shouted up as loud as she could. "Just hold him still for a second, okay?"

The Federation officer reached into her hair and removed a small gadget. "Good-bye, Gomez," she said, pointing it at him.

A sphere of black energy surrounded the man, then went flying into the sky, soon disappearing from view.

"Now get the trucks, Rei!" Birdy shouted up.

"Very well," Rei replied over the EVA's external speakers.

While Unit Zero turned its attention to the serum tanker trucks, Birdy finally had a clear field to Christella Revi. The crime boss finally looked frightened, and seeing that fear in her eyes was worth more to Birdy than almost anything.

"Tell me, Revi, do you know what the Cyberoid egg you gave to that two-bit criminal in the Vega system did once it hatched?" Birdy asked, cracking her knuckles.

"Killed at least one utterly insignificant individual, I'm sure," Revi replied haughtily.

Birdy's eyes widened and she backhanded Revi, busting the crime boss's lip. Revi staggered back a step, then brushed her hand against her lip and looked down at her bloodied fingers. She appeared stunned that a Federation officer would dare to strike her.

"That thing killed Violeen, you bitch!" Birdy roared. "That woman was like a mother to me! She was the only person I had in the universe, and she died because you decided to give a small time crook a big toy!"

"So?" Revi asked. "Are you going to kill me?"

Birdy paused. She had imagined this moment so, so many times since that horrible day, but now that it was finally upon her, she found that she wasn't quite sure how to proceed.

_You could kill her right now,_ a voice whispered in her mind. _Shinji wouldn't tell. He understands what she did to you. And there's no other way for the Federation to find out. The brass would be too glad about the threat of a Ryunka being diverted to ask too many questions._

Part of Shinji wanted to tell Birdy not to kill her, but he kept his peace. Partly because this had to be her decision, and partly because he hated Revi, too.

"Blood for blood, Federation officer?" Revi asked. "I'm worth a thousand of this Violeen bitch, you know."

Birdy's eyebrows went up, and she realized something very, very important: Revi _wanted_ her to kill her.

Whether out of some bizarre form of pride, fear of what would happen to her in prison, or some other motive, the crime boss would rather die than be taken in.

That settled it for her.

"No," Birdy said softly.

She quickly advanced toward Revi, grabbing hold of her bag before she could react. Birdy looked in and quickly found what she was looking for, namely the necessary components to create a Ryunka, still safely contained within their little energy spheres. The crime baroness tried to take her bag back, but Birdy gave her a hard shove, causing her to fall ungracefully on her rear.

"Good-bye, Revi," Birdy said.

"No!" Revi cried, even as black energy began to surrounded her.

Birdy grinned triumphantly as she watched the dark sphere fly off into the sky, not looking away until it had vanished from sight.

"Damn, that felt good," Birdy remarked. "So, Shinji, is there anything else we need to do now?"

**I can think of a couple of loose ends we should probably tie up,** he replied.

"I'm game," Birdy replied.

* * *

"I always knew that forming an alliance with those aliens was a bad idea," Fuyutski grumbled to himself as he walked through the parking deck with quick, frantic steps. "But did Ikari listen to me? No, of course not. Always was an arrogant son of a bitch."

The old man finally reached his car, then took a quick, furtive glance around before getting in. It was nothing short of miraculous that he'd managed to slip away and get all the way to his car without anyone intercepting him. He might have believed that he had done it with help from above, but he knew that he didn't deserve such divine intervention.

"Actually looks like I might make it," he said as he started up his car and began to drive away.

He had had an escape plan in place for years, just in case Gendo and SEELE somehow managed to destroy one another one day and he was still alive when the dust cleared. Ikari had no doubt known about it, but he'd never said anything; the Commander was content to let his subordinate have a contingency plan, since it wouldn't work unless Gendo was dead.

Fuyutski had never really expected that he'd be able to employ his plan, but as he drove out of headquarters and then up to the surface, he felt himself relax. It was a pity that he would never see Yui again, but at least he was finally free.

Really, "retirement" wouldn't be bad at all. He had skimmed a tiny fraction of a percent of NERV's budget, which ensured that he would be able to live quite comfortably for his remaining years. And he'd already managed to secure—

Something landed on the front of his car hard enough to dent it, rudely interrupting the Vice Commander's pleasant fantasies. The man gasped, and the car weaved for a few seconds before he lost control of it entirely and slammed into a lamp post, finally coming to a stop.

Dazed, he looked up, surprised to see that the thing which had landed on his car was still there, and that it wasn't a thing at all, but a rather attractive young woman.

She jumped lightly down to the ground and then casually ripped the door off his car, pulling him out.

"Wh-Who are you?" Fuyutski stammered.

This woman hadn't been among any of Revi's various underlings.

"That's not important," she replied. "I need the services of a metaphysical biologist, and you're the only one I know of, so you don't get to slip away just yet."

The old man sighed. He supposed that it had been too much to hope that he'd manage to escape clean. "Fine," he said. "I'll go quietly."

"Good," the woman said. "Sit tight for a second, would you?"

To Fuyutski's amazement, the young woman's form suddenly shifted and changed, quickly being replaced by the Third Child's. He gaped while Shinji, acting as if everything was perfectly normal, took his cell phone out of his pocket and calmly dialed a number.

"Misato?" he spoke. "Yes, we got Fuyutski. Have you managed to track down Akagi?...Good. Then that's all the essential expertise, I think…okay, I'm heading back."

Shinji ended the call and put away his phone. Then, he again changed into the young woman and turned to Fuyutski. "Let's go, Professor."

* * *

A pair of armed NERV security guards appeared to escort the Third Child and the Vice Commander as they approached headquarters, so Birdy changed back into Shinji before the two men could get a good look at them.

"Shinji?" Fuyutski spoke. "What in the world is going on?"

"I want my mother back," the Third Child answered simply. "You're going to help."

"Pilot Ikari," one of the guards said as they drew near, "Major Katsuragi has ordered us to bring you to her. Vice Commander, I'm afraid I have orders to take you to a confinement cell."

Fuyutski briefly considered trying to countermand the order, then decided it would probably be futile. Best to gracefully accept whatever punishment was meted out for his sins and pay his dues with dignity.

"Very well," he said, "lead the way."

Fuyutski followed one of the guards, while Shinji followed the other. The Third Child was led up to the door of Misato's office, where the guard left him. He knocked softly and then walked inside.

"SHINJI!" Misato shouted, instantly sweeping him up into a bone crushing hug, inadvertently pressing his face into her impressive bust in the process.

He blushed. Birdy snickered.

Misato released him, and he saw tears glimmering in her eyes. "I was so afraid for you when you pulled that insane stunt and left the Geofront."

"I…I'm fine, Misato," he said, "and it's over. It's finally over."

Even as he said that, he could barely believe it himself. His father, Revi, the Angels, SEELE…all of them had been defeated. Doubtlessly there would be aftermath to deal with, but the worst of it was now behind him. He could finally know peace again. The idea suddenly made him feel giddy and lightheaded.

Before either he or Misato could say anything further, the door to her office was suddenly thrown open violently and the Second Child stormed in.

Shinji reflexively took a step back as she approached him, half convinced that she was going to strike him. He didn't recognize the look on her face, but he didn't like it. Unshed tears stood in Asuka's eyes, which was unusual enough in it itself, and a whole host of emotions danced within those eyes, everything from rage to anguish.

"Did you really have to do it?" she asked in a choked voice.

He blinked. "Do what?"

Her eyes flashed, and a single tear managed to break free and start its way down her cheek. "Destroy Unit Two's core!" she shouted. "You know what…what's…"

She trailed off, unable to finished. Asuka hung her head, causing her face to be hidden by the auburn curtain of her hair.

"Asuka, I didn't," Shinji said softly.

Her gaze snapped back up to meet his. "What?" she whispered.

"I didn't destroy the core," he said. "I cut it out of Unit Two instead of destroying it. It's still intact. I don't know if that's enough to—"

He was cut off as Asuka abruptly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him fiercely, burying her face into his shoulder as tears finally began to flow freely from her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you."

Misato put her hands on her hips as she gave the two teenagers a speculative look. "Just _what_ has been going on between you two recently?" she asked, a slight smirk on her face.

"Not what you probably think," Shinji replied, awkwardly putting his arms around Asuka.

After a few minutes, the Second Child regained her composure and gently broke the embrace between herself and Shinji, mumbling something inaudible as she did so.

Shinji cleared his throat nervously. "So, where's Rei?" he asked, turning to his guardian.

"The Medical Ward," Misato answered. "I sent her there to be looked over after she got back."

Shinji nodded, deciding that was probably for the best. He doubted that Rei would want to see what would come next.

"There's one more thing we have to do before we can call it a day," Shinji said. "We need to go someplace private. Really private."

* * *

"This place looks just like Rei's old apartment," Asuka said as the trio ventured to one of the seedier looking sections of Terminal Dogma.

"My father probably had her living here until he decided it was 'safe' for her to mingle with the public," Shinji said.

"You two are _really_ going to have to tell me everything you learned about this place," Misato commented, "and soon."

Shinji nodded absently. He hadn't come back to this horrible part of NERV for story time.

"You're positive this is the right one, Birdy?" he asked, eyeing one of the white orbs of energy they'd taken from Revi.

**Positive,** Birdy confirmed.

Shinji nodded and then hurled the orb into the ground at his feet. There was a _bang_ as the energy cocoon shattered, and suddenly Gendo Ikari was laying at his feet.

"Hello, Father," Shinji greeted.

"Shinji?" Gendo whispered, shocked.

His son was _not_ the first thing he'd been expecting to see when he was released from his tiny prison.

"Yes, it's me," Shinji confirmed. "Revi's been stopped. So has the JSSDF and SEELE."

"So, you've somehow won the day," Gendo said coolly.

Shinji nodded. "Yes, I suppose I did," he agreed. "Would you like to know just how I did it?"

Gendo just looked at his son stonily, not willing to admit his curiosity.

"Well, I had some help," Shinji said, then traded places with Birdy. Gendo started at the transformation but didn't say anything.

"Your son had the misfortunate of running into me while I was chasing one of Revi's goons," Birdy said, taking up the tale. "I accidentally gave him a fatal injury, and I had to take his mind and soul into my body to preserve his life. I'm the reason Unit One didn't consume that Angel's S2 organ."

She changed back into Shinji, who resumed his exposition. "Of course, Birdy by herself wouldn't have made it possible for me to beat you," he said. "We never would've found out your plan. So it's a good thing that after I was absorbed by EVA the first time, when I finally escaped, I took Mother's soul with me instead of Birdy's."

Gendo's eyes widened.

"She was appalled by what you've been doing," he said. "She helped me break into your files. Mother helped me stop you, Father."

"You're lying," Gendo finally spoke.

Shinji shrugged. "Believe what you want. It makes no difference to me."

"So," Gendo said, "what does the victor intend to do with the vanquished?"

"Hmm, well, first thing's first," Shinji said. "Take off your gloves."

"What?"

"Do it."

Reluctantly, Gendo did as he was told, exposing the embryonic form of Adam that was grafted onto his hand.

Misato gasped softly at the sight of it. "What is that?"

"That's Adam," Shinji answered, "the First Angel. I believe you have a score to settle with it?"

Misato nodded slowly.

"Go nuts." Shinji said.

A wild glint appearing in her eyes, Misato drew her Heckler & Koch. Before Gendo could react, the Ops Director had squeezed off four shots, reducing the Commander's hand—and Adam—into jelly.

The sound of the shots was deafening in the small room, but even they couldn't drown out Gendo's scream of agony.

Eventually, the Commander managed to regain some semblance of composure and turned to face his son again. "Now what?" he asked through clenched teeth. "What are you going to do to me?"

**Say the word, Shinji,** Birdy growled. **Say the word, and I will rip his throat out for you.**

Shinji hesitated, then shook his head. "No," he said. "Despite everything he's done, I can't have my father executed, not in cold blood."

"Then what do you plan on doing with me?" Gendo demanded.

"I guess I have to turn you in to the authorities," Shinji said mildly.

Gendo actually snorted. "Do you know how many powerful friends I've had to make in order to get and hold onto my position at NERV?" he asked.

Shinji just shrugged. "They won't be able to help you where you're going," he said. "Birdy?"

Understanding at once, the Altarian switched places with him and removed the small device from her hair. "Gendo Ikari," she said formally. "You are under arrest for conspiring with someone you knew to be an interstellar criminal!"

Gendo gasped softly, shutting his eyes. However, when nothing happened, he slowly opened them and looked at Birdy.

Her mouth opened, but it was Shinji's voice that came out. "You're going to be all alone among aliens, Father. But don't worry…you'll always have Paris."

Gendo's eyes widened as those words confirmed the awful truth: Yui _had_ aided Shinji in thwarting his scenario. After so many years of focusing all his energies on the task of reuniting with his beloved wife, she had worked against him.

Knowing that hurt more than anything else Shinji could have possibly done to him. He hung his head as a sphere of black energy encase him and then began to take him to a Federation prison.

* * *

Author's Notes: And finally, the villains have all been thwarted. Up next is the epilogue, which I should have up in a couple of days, with luck. Not a whole lot to say otherwise, as this chapter is mostly full of massive brawls.

LoPe21, sorry, but a Shinji/Birdy pairing was something I never really even gave much thought to. As they're in the same body, a lot of the "logistics" just seemed like they'd be impossible to work out (it would, for example, be totally impossible for them to kiss). Besides, I always viewed them as having a relationship more akin to siblings who constantly bicker but really care about one another beneath the endless fighting.

As always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers. Now for a little fun.

* * *

Omake (special thanks to taalismn for proposing this idea to me a good while ago)

Built-In Meat Shield

The Superwomen of Eva were pissed. Really, really pissed.

Normally, the person on the receiving end of this group's anger could do little besides wet him or herself and pray that death came quickly.

However, thanks to certain circumstances, they couldn't hurt Birdy Altera Cephon, and she knew it.

"Stop hogging all of Shinji's time, you alien bitch!" Asuka shouted, the smell of brimstone permeating the air.

"Losing his company to your so-called patrols is unacceptable," Rei agreed.

"Sorry, girls," Birdy said airily, "but Shinji's mine."

"WHAT?!" all the superwomen shouted in unison.

Birdy smirked impishly. "Well, possession _is_ nine-tenths of the law, isn't it?"

"I would smash you _so_ hard if it wouldn't hurt Shinji, too," Misato grumbled, her eyes flashing green.

Rei cupped her chin, looking thoughtful. "Technically, Birdy isn't in possession of Shinji's body, correct?" she asked. "She's only hosting his consciousness within hers."

"We already thought about that," Maya informed the blue haired girl. "That doesn't help us, since we'll still be hurting Shinji if we hurt her. Even if we found out where she's keeping his body, it wouldn't help, since we can't get him back into it."

Ritsuko turned to Asuka. "She murdered an innocent," she said. "Can't you claim her soul?"

Asuka scowled and crossed her arms. "Don't you think I already thought of that?" she grumbled. "Since Shinji's soul hasn't left this mortal coil, what she did to him doesn't count."

"That's right!" Birdy said in a singsong voice. "Well, I'm off to search for alien criminals at the mall! Don't wait up!"

With that, the Altarian bounced off, leaving a group of very angry but impotent super heroines behind.

**Uh, Birdy, now that SEELE, my father, and Revi have been defeated, can we go to Altaria so I can get my body repaired?** Shinji asked.

"Hell no!" Birdy replied. "You heard them! They'll rip me to pieces if we ever separate!"

Shinji sighed. Only for him could having the attentions of a group of beautiful superwomen turn into a bad thing…


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: Birdy the Mighty is the creation of Masami Yuuki. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

* * *

Epilogue: **Peace**

"Kinda creepy, isn't it?" Shinji commented.

"Yeah," Asuka agreed, "I don't know how Rei managed to put up with it for so long."

The two former EVA pilots stood in what had once been the Dummy Plug production plant, looking up at the large tube in the center of the room. Most of it had been painted black, but part of it remained transparent. Through that part, the two of them could see the head and shoulders of a body that looked exactly like Asuka.

"Totally worth it, though," Asuka added.

Shinji just nodded silently, contemplating the eventful two months that had passed since the final battle of Tokyo-3.

He also couldn't help but wonder what the clone would look like in a few days, since NERV was rapid aging it to be the age Kyoko had been when the contact experiment with Unit Two had shattered her mind and soul. There wasn't any DNA from Kyoko to be had anywhere, so Akagi and Fuyutski had decided that, lacking a vessel like the one Kyoko had been born with, the woman's soul would most likely inhabit a body cloned from a close relative.

"So, seen enough for today?" Shinji asked.

While he could certainly understand her enthusiasm, he didn't see the need to monitor the process quite so closely.

"I want to talk to Akagi and Fuyutski before we go," she replied.

"Asuka, you just freak them out by popping up at the labs all the time," Shinji said, exasperated. "You're probably slowing them down."

Asuka huffed. "I still can't believe that we're just going to let them go once they're finished. They'll both probably rush off to Buenos Ares-Dos or some other place where they'll be safe from the law."

Shinji shrugged. "We need to give them some motive to succeed, and it would look pretty suspicious if we turned them in so long after the battle," he pointed out. "Besides, in the end, they were just dragged along for the ride by my father. Like a lot of people."

"I guess," she conceded.

He smiled slightly. "Come on," he said. "Let's get out of here."

The two of them made the trek through the bowels of NERV headquarters, going from Terminal Dogma up to Central Dogma. Unlike down below, where NERV still managed to squirrel away a couple of secrets (namely that they had Akagi and Fuyutski), Central Dogma was practically crawling with UN inspectors, even after two months.

Ignoring them, the two made their way to the command center, where they found NERV's new commander.

"Well hello, you two," Misato greeted them cheerfully. "I didn't know you were coming in today."

Shinji shrugged. "Well, you know how Asuka is," he said with an exaggerated, long suffering sort of sigh, earning himself a light punch in the arm.

"Well, you really can't blame her," said NERV's new top scientist. "It's not like you don't understand what she's going through, right, Shinji-kun?"

Shinji grinned, a little sheepishly. "You're right, Mother."

Yui Ikari smiled back at her son. The process of getting her out of Evangelion had been much easier for her than it would be for Kyoko, not least of all because NERV already had a template handy for creating a vessel for her to inhabit. Akagi had made one more Rei clone, then rapid aged it until it was as mature as Yui had been when she'd been absorbed.

The body being the age Yui had been when absorbed had been important, Fuyutski had claimed, because the more the vessel resembled the self-image that Yui's mind and soul had of herself, the greater the chances of her inhabiting it. As Yui's soul had quickly moved from the EVA to the aged Rei clone when NERV had made their first salvage attempt, Fuyutski apparently knew what he was talking about.

Of course, all this had resulted in Yui possessing Rei's unusual features and looking too young to be Shinji's mother.

However, these seemed like trifling annoyances indeed compared to the problems they'd once had to deal with. Yui had applied hair dye and colored contacts in order to look a little more like herself, and she cheerfully ignored the looks people gave her when they learned she had a teenage son.

"So, what brings you two up here?" Yui asked.

"Just wanted to say hello, and to ask if you'd be home for dinner," Shinji answered.

"Of course I'll be there," Yui replied cheerfully.

"Maybe I'll make it, if I'm _really_ lucky, but most likely I'll be stuck here all night," Misato groaned. "I swear, the paperwork I have to deal with is insane…"

"You probably wouldn't have half so much if you hadn't run off to the media the second the smoke cleared and told them almost everything," Asuka pointed out.

"I had to, Asuka," Misato replied. "I promised I would, for him."

Asuka quickly sobered. "You're right," she said softly.

All things considered, the redhead had taken the news that Kaji had been killed surprisingly well, probably because she didn't feel as alone without him as she once would have. Even so, it had hurt her a lot.

Shinji cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, we'll be heading home now," he said. "We'll see you this evening, Mother, and hopefully you, too, Misato."

The pair left the command center, stepping back out into the hall. "Are you okay?" Shinji asked once they were alone.

"Yeah," Asuka replied, then forced a smile and took his hand. "C'mon, let's blow this popsicle stand."

He nodded, and they left the base, soon finding themselves back on the surface of Tokyo-3. Huge cranes and other pieces of construction equipment could be seen just about everywhere in the battered city, slowly but surely rebuilding it.

"They're going to get the school repaired way too soon, aren't they?" Asuka asked as she took a glance at all the heavy equipment.

"Probably," Shinji agreed with a small smirk.

Asuka shook her head. "It's a nice day today," she said. "Let's walk home instead of taking the bus."

"Sure," Shinji said with a smile.

However, they had no walked two blocks before his contented expression was soundly replaced by a look of dread.

"Oh no…" he muttered.

Approaching them were none other than Toji and Kensuke, which normally wouldn't have distressed Shinji. However, they were in the company of someone he'd rather they _not_ associate with, especially while he around.

For a moment, he looked about desperately for an escape route, but it was too late. They'd already seen him, and in any case, Asuka would never consent to flee from the likes of them.

"Hi, guys," Shinji greeted with false cheer as they drew near. "Hello, Shion."

Smirking, Birdy greeted him, while Toji and Kensuke just stood there silently, looking like they couldn't decide whether to drop down on their knees and worship him or grab him by the shoulders and shake him until he came back to his senses.

Of course, they'd wanted to do the latter ever since they'd learned he had started a "thing" with Asuka (Shinji and the redhead had not yet gotten around to clearly defining their new relationship, but they were in no rush; with the war over and the threat of death no longer looming over them, such matters felt less pressing).

However, whenever the opportunity arose, Birdy had been amusing herself by using rather strong innuendo to make them believe that she and Shinji had once been intimate together. And Toji and Kensuke couldn't believe that Shinji would opt to be with Asuka when Birdy appeared more than willing to go back to him.

"So," Shinji said, deciding to preempt any comments from them, "how're your new limbs doing, Toji?"

The jock smiled and opened and closed his fist a couple of times. "Great! I can't even tell the difference between them and my old ones any more," he said. "Mari's totally on the mend, too. They think she'll be fully recovered by the end of the year!"

Shinji smiled. "That's great," he said.

"Hey, why didn't you ever tell us your mom was working on making some great medical breakthrough?" Kensuke asked. "I kinda thought she was, well, dead."

Shinji shrugged, "It was kept really secret for some reason. I don't know why."

Birdy caught his eye and they shared a quick, amused glance. _God bless the wonders of Federation technology,_ he thought. _And Federation bureaucrats desperate enough to keep me from telling their media how one of their people "killed" me that they'd let me take it back with me._

Not that Shinji would have told the whole story to some Federation reporter anyway, but it hadn't hurt to let the paper pushers up there believe he might.

"You know how paranoid government types can be," Asuka said. "They love their little 'top secret' rubber stamps."

"Well, we gotta head home," Shinji said. "I'll catch you guys tomorrow, okay?"

Normally, Toji and Kensuke probably would have protested, but they were quite happy with the company of "Shion" at the moment, so they let him go without argument. Soon after, Shinji and Asuka had made it back to the apartment building.

Yui had purchased the apartment right next to Misato's, and Shinji and Rei had moved in with her. So far, the occupants of the two homes had been treating them like they were just one big apartment; they all ate together, and there was even talk of knocking a hole in one of the walls and having a door installed to join the two apartments.

Shinji opened the door to the Ikari apartment…and then recoiled as smoke came billowing out at him.

"What the hell?!" Asuka exclaimed.

Shinji went charging inside, soon finding Rei. The former First Child was standing at the stove, upon which sat a frying pan where something was burning. She was desperately trying to put it out by throwing water on it, but her efforts were only generating more smoke. Shinji quickly grabbed the lid from a pot and pressed it over the blackened contents of the pan, stifling the flames.

"Thank you," Rei said, coughing.

"Ugh, Rei, I'm not sure even _Misato_ could have pulled this one off," Asuka said as she began to open windows to let the smoke out.

Rei blushed. "I am sorry."

"It's okay," Shinji said. "At least you somehow managed to avoid setting off the fire alarms. Help us air this place out, then I'll give you a cooking lesson."

"Thank you," Rei said, and quickly got to work.

A half an hour later, the air quality in the apartment was back to almost normal, and Shinji was teaching Rei how to prepare a meal without making the whole apartment smell like smoke.

"I still can't believe you used to eat almost every meal in the NERV commissary," Asuka commented to Rei, the redhead shuddering slightly at the mere thought.

"It was…convenient," Rei said. "I never needed to cook before."

_Obviously,_ Asuka thought, but made only a noncommittal grunt aloud.

"You seem distracted, Rei," Shinji said. "Is something on your mind?"

"I have been thinking about the previous Commander," she confessed. "The circumstances under which Birdy arrested him seem dubious at best. He is not a Federation citizen, nor was he within Federation territory."

"So?" Asuka asked.

"What if they release him?" Rei said.

Shinji smirked. "I wouldn't worry about that too much…"

* * *

_Two weeks earlier…_

"This is beneath me," Gendo grumbled as he reached down to pick up a piece of litter that some lazy Altarian had dropped.

He and the rest of his cell block were out of prison that day, getting fresh air in exchange for a little menial labor, namely picking up trash from the streets.

"But they'll give the one who picks up the most extra erkburgels for dinner!"

Gendo turned to look down at one of his fellow prisoners, a small, yellow alien with a vaguely amphibian body and ears that looked like bat wings. Said alien would do just about anything for his precious erkburgels. An utterly disgusting foodstuff, the things were green, almost slug-like blobs, each with a single orange-red eye. The prison served them still alive.

The former Commander of NERV turned the full force of his glare upon the little alien. The yellow guy was unmoved.

"Ikari! Get back to work!"

"Yes, Warden," Gendo said with a sigh.

He turned to pick up an abandoned can, and that's when he caught sight of them, walking on one of the hovering pathways that were everywhere on this planet.

He spotted Birdy's pink hair first. Then, once he'd identified her, he quickly saw the smaller figure that trailed close behind her, obviously afraid of getting lost on an alien world. His own son.

Shinji must have felt his father's gaze upon him, for he turned, and their eyes locked.

Then, a slow smirk spread over Shinji's face, and he mouthed two words to his father.

"Mother's back."

The scream Gendo emitted then ensured that he'd only get the usual amount of erkburgels that night.

* * *

That evening, Shinji ventured out onto the veranda, partly because the Ikari apartment still smelled of smoke, but mostly because he just wanted to look up at the dark sky and breathe the night air.

Part of him was still quietly reeling over the events of the last month. Had he woken up and found that the Seventeenth Angel had just been slain, or even that the _Seventh_ Angel had just been slain, he wouldn't have been completely surprised.

"There's not a whole lot in the way of stars to see there, Shinji-kun, not in the city. And in any case, I think you're missing someone if you intended to make a romantic evening out of tonight."

He smiled and turned, seeing Misato standing behind him. "I thought you were stuck working tonight?"

She shrugged. "I'm the commander now. I can give myself the night off if I want to."

"Do you really want that?" he asked. "To be the commander of NERV, I mean?"

"Yeah, I think I do," she said. "The soul in Unit Zero doesn't seem to want to come out, according to Ritsuko and Fuyutski, and NERV can't be completely disbanded so long as one EVA remains, even if it is in suspended animation."

She smiled ruefully, "Besides, the angry old farts at the UN would probably start trying to make my life hell if I didn't accept this 'reward.' They were none too pleased to have the world see how SEELE played them all for fools."

"I know all that, but…" he hesitated for a moment before finding the right words. "The Angels are dead. Unless Godzilla or something decides to threaten Japan, I don't think anybody's ever going to call on NERV again."

"And being the leader of NERV will be a very boring post," Misato finished. "I know, and I'm okay with it, really. Once everything finally finishes blowing over, I'll have plenty of time to figure out how to move on."

He nodded, knowing full well how badly Kaji's death had hurt her. "You don't have to do it alone, you know."

Misato smiled warmly at him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Asuka's a damn lucky girl," she commented.

She then went back inside before a blushing Shinji could stutter out a reply.

Before he could regain his composure, something suddenly landed next to him on the veranda, nearly causing him to jump out of his skin. He was about to shout, but then realized that it was Birdy.

"Hi, Shinji," she said cheerfully.

"Uh, hello," he replied, wondering how long she'd been watching him.

The Altarian had not ever told Misato her opinion of the former Ops Director's battle tactics, something for which Shinji was grateful. However, she had also avoided Misato whenever possible, and Shinji didn't for a moment put it beyond Birdy to spy on him and wait until Misato left before making her appearance.

"Well, I'm heading out," Birdy said.

Shinji blinked. "Heading out?" he echoed dumbly.

This sounded a little too casual if Birdy was returning to the Federation, but he supposed it was possible. This was Birdy he was dealing with, after all.

"Yeah," Birdy replied. "The Federation has sort of loaned me to Earth so I can help track down the members of SEELE."

Shinji nodded. "I was kind of wondering why you were hanging around here," he admitted. "I just thought you were sticking around because you hadn't tried every flavor of ice cream in existence yet…"

She smirked. "That's a good reason to stay here, too."

"I guess," he said.

"So, anyway, I just got a lead, so I'm outta here for a while," Birdy said. "Don't worry, I'll look you up again before I go home."

"I'm glad," he nodded. "As crazy as you are, I'll miss you when you're gone."

Birdy snorted, then abruptly wrapped her arms around Shinji in a hug. After his initial surprise, he hugged her back.

"Well," Birdy said, ending the embrace, "so long."

With that, the Federation officer jumped off the veranda and disappeared into the night. Shinji stared after her—the young woman who'd come into his life by random chance and had had such a profound effect upon it—long after he'd lost sight of her.

The door to the veranda opened. At first her thought it was Misato again, or perhaps his mother coming to tell him to go to bed, but the figure was too short to be either of them.

"Missing your 'other half?'" Asuka teased.

"How much did you see?" Shinji asked.

"I just overheard her telling you that she was going after SEELE and would be back eventually," Asuka replied. "I almost feel sorry for the old bastards."

"Almost," he agreed.

"Exactly," Asuka said. "So, you haven't answered my question. You just standing here, pining away for the days she was rattling around inside your head?"

"No," Shinji answered emphatically.

It seemed too quiet inside his mind these days, but he was sure he'd adjust. And though he did like Birdy and certainly considered her a friend, he appreciated her a lot more when they were in separate bodies.

"I was just sort of wondering how things would have turned out if I hadn't bumped into Geega that night and gotten joined with Birdy," Shinji added.

Embracing him from behind, Asuka leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. "I think it's probably better if we don't worry about that."

Shinji smiled. "Yeah," he agreed, "you're probably right."

* * *

Author's Notes: And so ends my third story and my first crossover. It's been a pretty wild ride. All in all, while I was very pleased by how some of it came out (the battle against the Twelfth Angel comes to mind), I don't think it was my best work. Some of the later chapters feel like there's too much info dump and not enough Birdy. Also, the sheer amount of stuff happening in the story, the result of it being a crossover and having two sets of villains, kind of overwhelmed me at times, I think.

On a related note, I now have a whole new level of respect for fanfic writers who can successfully pull of mega-crossovers.

One of these days I may return to this story and rewrite it in an attempt to sort out some of the flaws and make it as good as I expected it to be when orionpax09 threw the idea my way. Though, in all honesty, the chances of this are pretty slim; already I'm eager to start writing my next story, and I'm not sure I'll ever find the drive to look "backwards" and redo a completed piece. But hey, you never know.

On a completely unrelated note, I didn't create that alien Gendo was talking with. A million (meaningless) points to whoever can tell me who he is and where he's from. Here's a hint: he's not from a sci-fi, but an episode of a 90's kids show.

Laser Crusader, I've no plans for a sequel, or even any ideas about how I'd go about one, I'm afraid. Oh, and if you think the detective work was minimal here, check out the Birdy the Mighty OAV. Almost all the bad guys come to her, so there's virtually none.

Well, as always, thanks to my readers and reviewers.

* * *

Omake

Forgot About That…

"Hello, Shinji," Birdy said cheerfully.

"Uh, Birdy, you should probably get out of here," Shinji advised. "Now that I have my own body back—"

"I can do things to it!" Birdy exclaimed, then apparently realizing how that sounded, quickly added, "Um, I mean, we can finally unleash our pent up lust for one another!"

"That's _not_ gonna happen."

They turned to see Asuka coming through the veranda doors. Demonic flames were already rising up from her form. Behind her stood Misato, whose eyes were already green, and Rei, who had fully transformed into the Silver Surfer.

"Oh, the Superwomen," Birdy said, looking more than a little crestfallen. "I forgot about them."

"How could you forget?" Shinji asked. "They were trying to figure out how to kill you without hurting me in an omake that was _one chapter ago_."

"I have a short memory, okay?!" Birdy growled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think it's time I—blah!"

The Federation officer had turned, only to find herself confronted with a woman who was hanging upside down from a string that was attached to the veranda above them. Spider-Woman.

Birdy quickly realized that the arachnid woman wasn't the only one barring her escape route. Miss Fantastic hovered nearby, as did Storm and the Iron Maiden.

"Well, crap," Birdy said.

"I warned you," Shinji sighed.

"Get her, girls," Asuka said.

As the crowd of super humans began to converge upon her, Birdy did the most unexpected, insane, and (argueably) brilliant thing possible. She grabbed hold of Shinji, and the former Third Child screamed as electricity was pumped into his body.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Asuka exclaimed.

"You can't kill me!" Birdy said triumphantly, "Because the only way to save him now is for him to join with me again!"

Just barely conscious, Shinji decided that the odds of this becoming a repeating cycle were _far_ too good.

_Oh, for the days where she just made me slap myself…_


End file.
